T3
These lyrics are what I think of when it comes to Christmas, holidays and other "magical" occasions.
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[Verse 1]
They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
[Verse 2]
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
Then I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise
[Verse 3]
I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish, pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'd be snow at Christmas
They said there'd be peace on Earth
Hallelujah, Noël, be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas we get, we deserve
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Furthermore -
I am removing my list from this site.
I am done with trying to present a gift list of material things.
The few things that I am sure that I want are either very large expenses (on the order of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars) or are nebulous enough that small consumer items will not address them (security, peace, stability, simplicity, etc.).
Consider these examples
- Mortgage - 115-120k
- Tom's student loans - 55-60k
- Becky's student loans - 102-110k
- New and properly built bathroom - 20k
- New and properly built kitchen - 60k
- Heat pump heater for the house - 30k
- Heat pump water heater - 2-5k
- Upgrade to 200 amp electrical service, sub-panel in the garage - 5k
- Insulating properly the ground floor of my house - 5k
- Total = 394-415k
At this point I am not bothered by not having a list of small things here on this site.
The best Christmas present that I can remember was a handful of years ago. My grandmother gave of her time and energy to hand-make scarves for sick people.
In the end what you do with your time, money, and energy is up to you.
Spend those on making the world a better place for people who may not ever know you or be able to pay you back.