THIS YEAR'S CHRISTMAS CARD
One of the frustrations of Christmas is trying to match the hype with the reality of what is a very emotional holiday. Norman Rockwell and the Saturday Evening Post gave us the first visual of what Christmas was supposed to be. In the golden age of television, it got worse. How could you compete with a Cleaver Christmas, or a Perry Como Christmas, or an Andy Williams Christmas? Television movies took it a step further, going to both extremes from "miracles in the snow" to "Griswold Christmas fiascos". And now we wax nostalgic with Ralphie in the modern day classic "A Christmas Story", which will be run on a cable channel for 24 hours on Christmas Day. The reality is Christmas is the most stressful time of the year. It is spelled W-O-R-K for most of us. Another spelling might be M-O-N-E-Y, also for most of us. Then there are the crazy family members coming out of the woodwork, some you can dispose of, others you are stuck with no matter what you do. On a sa...