Thoughts of Christmas

It's that time of the year when the thoughts of most of us turn to the celebration of Christmas.

It's also the time of the year when the squirrels come out of the woodwork and we're inundated with more nonsense than we want to endure as it relates

to the holiday: it's principal characters, and its

celebration.

From this person's viewpoint there are two tales that best represent Christmas and all it stands for; these being: O. Henry's The gift of the Magi, and Charles dickens' A Christmas Carol.

In the Gift we have a tale of love and sacrifice which emphasizes the spirit of Christmas, as we do in the Christmas Carol, and which is the dominant theme of Christmas as we know it in the western world.

Likewise, we have the relatively modern Christmas spirit as the Senior

generation came to know it.

We all know Dickens' famous yuletime epic which exemplifies the true spirit we want to believe is supposed to be inherent in Christmas.

Passionate love dominates O. Henry's epic as Jim and Della sacrifice their most cherished possession in order to be able to provide a most special gift for each other.

As do virtually all of O. Henry's stories, irony plays a dominant role, which makes the Gift of the magi all that more an example of the true Christmas spirit.

As we view the carnage that has resulted in our most recent presidential gathering, we must wonder what has happened to this spirit.

It looks as if the folks we elect to represent us are a bit off message during this yuletide season.

Whatever happened to “Good will to all men?”

Merry Christmas.