SILENT NIGHT

The Christmas Spirit is largely - like a prisoner of war- MIA this year. There's a hush over the Happy Valley tonight that speaks of sadness rather than joy to the world. There's not even Christmas programing on TV. If it wasn't for Andy Williams on PBS I wouldn't have found any historical reference to my Christmases past tonight on the mainstream airwaves.

In the Christmas present, I of course ended up shopping at 3:00pm today and the lines were still alarming light. Dubya's stealing from the poor to aid the rich theory of economic recovery does not seem to be working at the retail level. As always, I avoided the horror of Walmart and bought my drain opener and window caulking (inspired by the $145.00 heating bill for November), at the local hardware store, but I also got through the mandatory chain grocery to fill my long empty cupboards and the chain liquor store for the bargain of the week, a bottle of Moet White Star for only 25 bucks, all in just over an hour. Last year it took two.

Looking to the immediate Christmas future, I'm invited to Michael and Irma's for a little holiday cheer and they've got a lot of spirit going (not to mention custody of 'our' tree) so I'm off and I hope everyone gets to see if reindeer really know how to fly.