I wonder if any of you saw “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” yesterday. What did you think? There’s a good review and parent discussion guide over at Christianity Today’s site. My main concern is whether it would be appropriate for my kindergartener. This is the warning on the CT site:

The film is appropriate rated PG for battle sequences and frightening moments, including the disturbing ceremonial murder of a central character—though there’s no blood or gore. There’s also a violent battle scene near the end, reminiscent of the battles in the Lord of the Rings films—though not as graphic. There are some scary creatures in the Witch’s army, and her legion of wolves are also rather frightening. Young children may be troubled by some of these scenes and images.

Were the scenes really scary for little children? We’re pretty sensitive over here, especially when it comes to Aslan — so I just wanted to ask.

We’ve only got two more weekends before Christmas is here, so I know you’re busy. But I did want to let you know about something coming up. I’ve recently been introduced to Two Talent Living, and Sallie is doing a great job of gathering Christian women bloggers together. She’s announced her recent Blogs of Beauty Award winners, and now she’s going to be hosting a weekly Carnival of Beauty to showcase beautiful writing.

The two main purposes of the Carnival of Beauty are:
1. Encourage women by reflecting the beauty of Christ in our writing.
2. Meet women online who cherish the beauty of Christ that we might not have met otherwise.

You’ll have to read all the guidelines on her site, but here’s how it works. Each week the writing will center around a topic, which will be announced at least a few weeks in advance. The first three topics will be:

1. Week of December 11: The Beauty of Giving
2. Week of December 18: The Beauty of Tradition
3. Week of December 25: The Beauty of Excellence

The entry should be a newly written piece, published in the week of the Carnival. The hostess (which will be Two Talent Living the first few weeks) will announce the Carnival pieces on Wednesday. So, you should post your writing on this topic Sunday, Monday or Tuesday so it will be up when people start to look for it on Wednesday.

Sallie writes, “Although the goal is about promoting the beauty of Christ, the piece does not have to be explicitly about Christ. It can be about family matters, home life, children, marriage, nature, friendship, cooking, homemaking, hobbies, etc. Anything that reflects the beauty of Christ and fits the topic.”

Over the weekend, you can be thinking about what you’d like to write about the topic of giving, if you’d like to be part of this week’s topic. You need to send your first name, the title and link to your post, and a brief one or two sentence description to Sallie by 3 pm on Tuesday. This is a tremendous responsibility she is taking on — because she’ll have to read all of these as well as visit the blogs to make sure they fit within the guidelines.

If any of my readers don’t have a blog, I’ll be happy to post here for you on my site. This Carnival of Beauty is a great excuse to flex your writing muscles and share what’s on your heart.

For the topic of giving, do you know any stories of people who enjoy giving to others? What do they give? In your own life, how do you give to others, and what do you receive in the process? As a parent, what are some ways you can instill a love of giving in your children? I’d love some practical tips — then I’ll post them all together next Tuesday.

I wish you all a safe weekend. Thanks to those of you who like this site design and are voting for me in the Weblog Awards. I appreciate your support — but remember — if you have several computers in your office, only vote from your own. Thanks!