Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Hello all!

Much has been made of the whole "Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays" thing here in the US.I don't know how it is in other countries, but I know saying "Happy Holidays" wasn't an issue until the Politically Correct police made everything else we say wrong for one reason or another.

I am a Christian, so I celebrate Christmas. So when I say Merry Christmas to you,  I'm not making a political statement, I'm simply wishing you the very best this season has to offer anyone an everyone.  It's a time of hope, peace, and sharing.  When I say "Merry Christmas"  that's what I mean. 

So Merry Christmas to you all, my friends.  And Happy Holidays to all of you!  I would love to hear how people of other religions and other countries greet each other this time of year, please feel free to post those greetings here.

As we look forward toward 2013 I have a lot of wishes:  I wish peace on Earth.  I wish the end to wars, poverty, illiteracy, and hopelessness.  I know these things will endure until the end of time.  It's how our world is.  But I also know that if each of us does one little thing, one small, insignificant thing for GOOD, then these things will start to diminish.

Many of you know I sell Partylite Candles as a side project.  One of the mantras Partylite adopted some time ago is "Candle light loses nothing when it is shared."  It sort of fits with the Christian ideal of "Let your light so shine."  Looking at that, I believe, in my deepest heart of hearts, that if we all let our light shine for GOOD, this world will be a better place bit by bit.  One candle in the dark does nothing to stave away the darkness.  But a million candles shining together turn darkness to light.

Politicians failed us.  World leaders failed us.  Governments all over the globe failed us.  Those who are supposed to be in control, to keep this planet of people and nations together in harmony have failed.  It is time, my friends, for each of us to do one thing, one tiny thing, to make the world around us better, to fix what those in power have broken.

Buy an extra can of soup today and give it to a food pantry.  Put a dollar in the Salvation Army bucket.  Buy an extra sandwich when you get lunch and give it to that homeless person sitting on the sidewalk.  When a clerk in a bookstore asks if you want to donate a book to a poor child...say yes.  Shovel the snow off your neighbor's sidewalk, even if you and that neighbor don't get along at all.  Donate a pair of new mittens to a women's shelter. Smile when someone you don't know greets you with "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas."  Help an old person reason something on the top shelf at a store.

These are all tiny little things.  But you never know when a smile, just a simple smile, can save someones life.

So my friends, I wish you the very best this time of year has to offer.  I wish you a Merry Christmas, and I hope the holidays you celebrate, whatever they are, are full of magic and wonder, and joy.

Most of all, I wish us all a happy and peaceful 2013.