DEMOCRACY IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT.

1. Please, no personal checks.
2. How about Santa bringing home the troops in his sleigh?
3. I'd really like an inflatable President. One that can't talk and can easily be deflated.
4. Dear Santa: I think all Americans should have health-care coverage, the same that our Congressman get, for free.
5. I have a Christmas wish that the U.S. can somehow regain its credibility around the world.
6. How about non-leaded toys for our children?
7. Santa: Could you please clean out the chimney on your way out?
8. This Christmas, I wish for abusive parents to turn into toads.
9. How about skipping the White House this Christmas?
10. On a more personal note, I'll take an iPod and a Bose portable speaker. Just trying to support the Santa Claus land economy.

LET PEACE, AND PEACE, AND PEACE, BE EVERYWHERE. Upanishads

I'm always a little ambivalent about Christmas. I don't have any bad memories of Christmas past, I think it is just all the commercialization. I recently read the early Roman merchants complained about slow holiday seasons. Seems the bottom line has always relied on good Christmas sales. It always comes to my consciousness that perhaps Christmas was make up to support the economy, rather than to celebrate the birth of Christ. I suppose, in the end, it really wouldn't matter. It's still a great story. One has to have faith that the Chamber of Commerce wasn't involved.
Christmas is the time for giving. GIVING. You give in proportion to what you have. A rich person giving a million dollars is no more admirable than a poor person giving a dollar. The point is to give with no intention of receiving. And it should be until you can feel it, not just your pocket change. PEACE is another yuletide word thrown around a lot. This year it will be just that, a word. People will be dying in numerous wars around the world. Maybe we need to concentrate on inner peace this year, or peace with our family, or neighbors. What a Christmas it would be, if all of us made a commitment to remain physically and verbally non-violent. That would set the stage for a more loving world. Ah,LOVE. Another word tossed around a lot at Christmas. To love and be loved. A hard word to define. Love is a personal word. It derives its meaning from your heart. It is a mystery word. You can feel it, you know when it's around, but you can't wrap it up and put it under the tree. Christmas gives us opportunities to experience and work at things that we put off through the year, or don't normally want to think about. Giving, peace, love, community, sharing, hope, faith, commitment. I guess I'm ambivalent about Christmas because I don't do near enough in any of these areas. Because I don't think about them enough. I never quite feel that I get to the heart of the Christmas story. I play it safe.

* You're sending suicide notes with all your cards.
* They had an office party and our weren't invited.
* The tinsel short circuited your pace maker.
* Nearly everyone bought you cologne.
* The others bought you toothpaste.
* You got caught having an improper relationship with the inflatable Santa on the neighbors lawn.
* You should never have served venison for Christmas dinner.
* You got caught photocopying the secretaries butt on the copy machine at the office party.
* This awful smell is coming from your chimney.
(Come on, add to the list. Help spread the holiday cheer).