There is something about religious holidays -- no matter one's beliefs -- that seems to bring out the best in people. When it is a holiday like Christmas, with its emphasis on giving to others, it is particularly true. Charles Dickens, famous for writing A Christmas Carol, penned the following:

"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."

So despite your religious affiliation, I wish you peace, faith, and happiness as we journey together as fellow passengers in life.