Per Your Requests On 12-21-11

Hark the herald angel sings


I'm dreaming of a white Christmas


I'll be home for Christmas


Silent Night


Grandma got ran over by a Reindeer


What Child is This


It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas


Angels we have heard on high


Frosty the snowman


Cheech & Chong ~ Santa Claus And His Old Lady


Happy Birthday Jesus


Mary did you know


Winter Wonderland


The Little Drummer Boy


Happy Xmas


O Holy Night


Silver Bells by Doris Day


Christmas Is


The most wonderful time of the year


There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays


Perry Como - Do You Hear What I Hear

Someday at Christmas


Silver Bells


Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)


Away in a Manger

Ronald Reagan Christmas Address (12/23/81)

SANTA AND GRANDMA

I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.

For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it.

Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were -- ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share,

HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care...
And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas In Salisbury, LOL

The “X” In “Xmas” Doesn’t Take The “Christ” Out Of “Christmas”

Myth: “Xmas” is a non-religious name / spelling for “Christmas”.

It turns out, “Xmas” is not a non-religious version of “Christmas”. The “X” is actually indicating the Greek letter “Chi”, which is short for the Greek, meaning “Christ”. So “Xmas” and “Christmas” are equivalent in every way except their lettering.

In fact, although writing guides such as those issued by the New York Times; the BBC; The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style; and Oxford Press discourage the use of Xmas in formal writing, at one time, it was a very popular practice, particularly with religious scribes, who are thought to have started the whole “Xmas” thing in the first place. Indeed, the practice of using the symbol “X” in place of Christ’s name has been going on amongst religious scholars for at least 1000 years.

Eventually, this shorthand trick spread to non-religious writings where nearly everywhere “Christ” appeared in a word, the Greek Chi would replace that part of the word. For example, in the 17th and 18th centuries, there are numerous non-religious documents containing instances of “Xine”, which was a common spelling for someone whose name was Christine.

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Holiday Greetings

To All My Democrat Friends :

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious or secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2012, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country, nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. This wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee.

To All My Republican Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

In God We Trust and God Bless America

A Letter To The Editor 12-25-11

WICOMICO COUNTY: BEND OVER FOR RICK POLLITT’S XMAS GIFT!

Sorry Rick, but we just could not wait until the big day to open your package – AND WE DON’T WANT YOUR “GIFT.”

If you have not heard – and the Daily Times has been silent about it – Mr. Pollitt wants the County Council to pledge that it will support the funding by the County, about $40 Million, that would be required to get that “free” state money to build the proposed new Bennett Middle School. That would require a property tax increase of at least 7 cents (that’s about 10%) to fund payment of the bonds that would be issued, while County roads and other infrastructure would remain largely ignored.

The Council is already being barraged by calls and e-mails from the group that the Board of Ed. and the Rickster have organized to lobby for this outrageous nonsense. No doubt the usual band of tax and spend yahoos – Phil Tilghman, Bill McCain, Tony Sarbanes (to name some of the more prominent) will be too. Look for a simultaneous effort to kill the tax revenue cap, along with even higher taxes, if they succeed.

You’ve been warned. Merry Christmas