MERRY CHRISTMAS

So this is Christmas...

Tonight Gabby solemnly announced that we would sing "Happy Birthday, Jesus" before her bedtime. If that is not "getting the true meaning", I don't know what is.

We went light on the "Santa's coming" part. I'll never forget my uncle who both thrilled and terrorized the nephews one year by brandishing a shiny black work boot, while breathlessly saying "I almost had him going back up the chimney!" A little rough. Points for props, though.

Did you stop to consider, amidst the "50 to 75% OFF!" signs, that if they can take those reductions, we must've really been getting screwed on that original price?

I figured it out: the vortex of people at HEB yesterday wasn't really mass numbers of shoppers, but really just a lot of people who never go to HEB but once a year, and then wander around pie-eyed like beggars at the feast. And holiday food shoppers: Don't. Bring. The. Whole. Family. Invite them for the eventual meal or snack, but it's not like you need more laborers in the aisles to bring in the harvest!

You reach a point in life when you realize the only "peace" you can really attain on this earth is inner. It's hard to hold, different for each of us, and the lack of it has a great deal to do with the sorry state we always find our world in on December 25th. We keep trying, humbled by the origins of this celebration: a life given, a light given.

A blessed and merry Christmas for you and yours.

--Jack

THE DOGHOUSE

Ever been in it?

This JCPenney web ad is big buzz, with equal numbers of men (and some women) offended, while others (including me) find in hilarious.

In fact, far from the "every kiss begins with Kay" commercialism that nauseates me, I think this is a clever send-up of both sexes.

Your thoughts??

"LET THEM GO BANKRUPT"

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney (a.k.a. President-elect Romney if GOP primary voters had come to their senses) makes the case for what American automakers REALLY need: a turnaround, not a check.

VETERANS DAY 2008

Executive Mansion,Washington,
Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

A. Lincoln

ISN'T THIS THE QUALITY WE SAY WE WANT...?

...In a leader?

A John McCain story for last-minute undecideds.

HE REALLY IS ONE OF US

You may not like him, vote for him, or share any other thing with him...

But Barack Obama is a citizen of the United States. Yes. Definitely. The state of Hawaii is now confirming the authenticity of his birth certificate.

I love getting your email about almost anything. But...please lay off this one, now, ok?

I'M OPERATING UNDERCOVER IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF MASS.

So far, so good. I wear sunglasses to shield my eyes from the reflection of 1000s of Obama campaign signs (still wondering, is that an "O" or a zero?), and now also bearing the burden of Red Sox mourning (to their credit, Red Sox Nation is not calling for any heads to roll, only for blockbuster off season trades, be Derek Lowe or a big bat to pair up with Big Papi).

The rabid Obama support (including in my own family---yes it is everywhere) has now shifted to a kind of early transition thinking (not what red states will be pluck, but who looks good for Sec'y. of the treasury, etc. etc.).

So, read this to see how I feel about preparing for the coming Obama Era. I'm with this guy.

How did you like Sarah on "SNL". ? I was trepidatious about it, but it absolutely worked for her, didn't it?