So this is Christmas...

In this life of hardship and of earthly toil

We have need for anything that frees us

So I bid you pleasure

And I bid you cheer

From a heathen and a pagan

On the side of the rebel Jesus...

-Jackson Browne

So this is Christmas...

Wherever the dawning of Christmas Day finds you this year, do your level best to make it merry.  If you shall spend even a small portion of today in the company of someone you love and who loves you right back and you shall do so with clothing on your back, a roof over your head, and food in your belly, then you have all the ingredients necessary for a Merry Christmas.  Not everyone does. If you do, then Christmas is a cause for celebration, not lamentation. 

Embrace the day.  Live in the moment.  Do not focus on what you do not have.  Do not dwell on the fact that there is a loved one or loved ones with whom you may not spend today. Accentuate the positive.  

Today is a day when each of us has the chance to be the richest person in town.  It is up to us whether we take it. 

Merry Christmas.

-AK