Remember how this time of year used to be filled with joy and the anticipation of good food and family's together, cousins you only saw a few times a year and aunts and uncles and grandparents. Oh, and the promise of a seriously obese old man with a beard coming down the chimney even if you had no fireplace for a chimney to be above bringing you gifts that you wanted or didn't really want or just something new. I am pretty sure we were all not even 10 years old yet.

Well, now in my mid 70's I find that I just hope the world does not finally destroy itself while the United States supports the destruction of an entire group of people simply because they do not either believe or support those things we do and they continue to attempt to do the same to us for the same reasons before the New Year.

My apartment building is filled with the sounds of the season, the glamor and glitter of shiny colored glass balls hanging on pine trees that would be better if left uncut instead of being brought indoors where they will inevitably die and dry and many will burst into flame and destroy a home and perhaps a few lives.

But there is a bit of redemption. We do have the Hallmark Countdown To Christmas, we do have a multitude of football contest to watch and cheer about and fall asleep during. There are untold numbers of things to do a participate in across the country. Things like Christmas Markets, productions of Christmas Classics, quartets on street corners and the big red kettle gathering funds to feed and house those who need it.

And it a mere 22 days there will be gatherings in churches both large and small of families to celebrate, even if just for those few moments, what the holiday is supposed to be about. Hope, Love and Joy promised by every faith and delivered by so few.

Do I sound a bit cynical? Perhaps I have spent enough time on the Earth to finally begin to see through the hypocrisy of the holiday spirit spewed by so many. And yet, there is still a part of me that really does want to believe in what the holiday season is supposed to be all about.

And so, I send you all my warmest holiday greetings in the hope the you and yours, be they a real or a chosen family, are able to gather together and share a meal and perhaps a few gifts and most importantly be able to tell one another that you love each other and wish them only the happiest of days to come.