I admit it. I’m a sucker for Christmas, I love everything about it, I am totally into the “reason for the season” and I accept everything that goes along with it. So here’s wishing you and yours Merry Christmas. I hope our paths cross this next year, and I pray that you’re healthy and happy. Whatever issues you’re going through, big or small (we’ve all got ‘em… and if you are one of the lucky people who have everything you want and life is perfect… good for you), I hope you can enjoy the holidays for what everything they represent. That goes for everyone – Christian or not, believer or non-believer, cynic or dreamer. This is a wonderful time of year period. Let’s enjoy it! Then again, Christmas is full of inconsistencies. Every sitcom, every holiday movie, every Christmas-related media story extols the virtues of love and peace. Which is interrupted every 10 minutes by commercials extolling greed, waste and violence. My favorite: “Call To Duty” as a “Christmas gift.” Yeah, right. So I’ve chosen to focus on the fun and the joy and the laughter that comes with everything “Christmas.” Let’s start with the problems from the North Pole. Apparently the ACLU and big labor have fired up the workers in the toy workshop, so there have been demonstrations and a near-riot. The “ONP” (Occupy North Pole) gangs have been particularly mean-spirited. An elf named “Coco” wrote: “Santa is mean! Anarchy now!” on the back of Mr. Claus’ sleigh, which meant a trial and some bad feelings. The judge (who is Mrs. Claus, by the way) found the little guy guilty-as-charged. He was sentenced to a candy-caning (it doesn’t hurt), some snowboarding (they don’t even know what waterboarding is!) and the story has largely been ignored by the international community plus the mainstream media. Why? BECAUSE SANTA CLAUS GIVES US TOYS, THAT’S WHY! Of course the recession has hit the North Pole, too. Santa is flying with just two reindeer this Christmas Eve. He’s also accepting your gift list via twitter (140 characters or less), mostly because that is going to halve many children’s wish-lists. There are signs-of-the-times that have affected everything from what people are asking for this year (most requested item: a full-time job with benefits) to the traditional customs we all enjoy. For example, to see Santa at the mall you need to pass through a metal detector and have two forms of I.D. And for many people Christmas is not the easiest or the most fun time of the year. Our postman gets so stressed out during the holidays that yesterday he bit our dog! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Taylor