Merry Christmas

(Guest post by Steve Gigl.)

I'd try to say something profound and moving, but that's simply not what I'm good at. Instead, I'll just link you to an excellent entry by the other Steve G.:

Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukkah! Seasons greetings, if you're an atheist. May our next holiday season see the same prosperity and domestic peace to which we have become so accustomed.

I'll add one more thing, for people who are spending Christmas alone, or who feel that lately, Christmas hasn't been measuring up the Christmases of their youths...

...My aunt and my grandfather died in 1994. I lost an uncle in 1995. My mother went in 1997, and I lost my grandmother last year. I'm estranged from my sister. We don't go to Kentucky any more for the holidays. We don't have Christmas turkey at my grandmother's house, around the old familiar dining table. It's easy to feel as though Christmas--the joy of a real family Christmas--is lost to me forever.

But it isn't. And tomorrow, you could meet someone or make a friend and change your life forever. This time next year, you could be among people you don't even know yet, having the time of your life. Look at me.

So don't give up hope. You never know when life is going to turn around and make a waste of the effort you've put into pessimism.

Merry Christmas, and safe travels!