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[johnslat]

To everyone on Dave's

The Meaning of Christmas

Beneath the colored lights and noise,
The shopping frenzy and the ads,
The TVs’ touting “must have” toys,
The crowds, the Muzak, this year’s fads,
Beneath all that, unsullied still,
By all the shrill commercial lures,
The Christmas message of goodwill,
Of peace and gratitude endures.

And even though it often seems
That Santa has replaced the Child,
That elves and reindeer reign supreme,
That Christmas Day has been defiled,
Within each soul, so deep and true,
The meaning of the season lives.
And every year we learn anew
How blessed is the one who gives.

Yet what we search for in the mall,
And what we place beneath our trees
Has no importance, none at all;
The things themselves are not what please.
Instead it is because they show
The love that presents represent.
Receiving them, we come to know
How much our being there has meant.

And when we give, it is a part
Of ourselves that we want to share,
To reach out to another heart,
To demonstrate unceasing care.
At Christmas time, we bring to mind
What we should know throughout the year,
That we belong to humankind,
And we must hold each other dear.



Mary Ann and John Slattery

[3701 W.119th]

Merry Christmas!

[water rat]

Merry Christmas Mary Ann and John and all the rest of you. God bless us everyone!

[Shimokitazawa]

Christmas has no meaning to me. At all.

[johnslat]

Dear Shimokitazawa,

Then, a Merry Bah, Humbug, to you, Sir/Madam.

Regards,
John

[grahamb]

My mutton-headed wife wants me to go Christmas shopping with her tonight. The moral? Never marry a Latin American - they have no sense of urgency.

[johnslat]

Dear grahamb,

You'd better hope your wife doesn't frequent Dave's. Should she, I suspect your Christmas will be decidedly UNmerry.

Regards,
John

[spiral78]

Ah, extreme last-minute shopping can be a good strategy in some ways; unless you're living in Latin America, unlikely too many others will be in whatever stores are open;-)

[grahamb]

John, I've never had a merry Christmas when my wife's been involved.

Her Internet activity consists largely of downloading useless programs containing spyware which I subsequently have to remove. Oh, for a time machine!

[peripatetic_soul]

Tis the season to forgive, give to others, and be thankful. No lamentations allowed. Happy Holidays and most of all, let us wish for peace for all--and some food on the table.
Count thy blessings.

PS

[Hod]

Two Christmases ago, I followed a friend whilst he did his last minute Xmas shop. It was a pitiful sight. There was a spice rack for a sister in law, a thermos coffee cup for the dad, a cheese grater was in there somewhere as well as a can opener which was solar powered.

There was no thought or pleasure involved, only an obligation to buy any old junk in the thirty minutes before closing time. My prediction that all presents would be spectacularly unappreciated proved in all cases to be correct. I told him to adopt my approach, i.e. buy no presents, but the next year he was back shopping for more unappreciated junk.

Before I'm labelled a scrooge, my Xmas is about being moderately pleasant to people, making an effort to write, call or visit those who would most cherish it or making a cake or inviting someone round for a home-cooked meal.

It shouldn't be about giving and receiving unwanted utter cr*p. It should also be stress and debt free.

Happy (cheap) xmas

[Cool Teacher]

Merry Christmas sorry its late.!

[scot47]

I am late but will post an early one for December 2015

Good Yule !