Post-holiday recap...Good, bad, ugly...Belated seasons greetings...

Before I get started with a discussion of recent Google comments regarding duplicate content, here are a few post-holiday observations...

Good
Watching your two-year old rip open presents at Mach II.
Listening to your two-year old bang on a tiny trap set on Christmas morning.
Moms flying in for the holidays.
Wives who really know how to pick out gifts.

Bad
Dentistry and oral surgery.
Appointments for additional oral surgery and dentistry.
Nice new air mattresses for guests that leak like sieves.
Dads not flying in for the holidays.

Ugly
Trying to (at least partially) return to work.
Our home, the wrapping paper and cardboard box landfill.
Cameras that eat batteries the way I can eat holiday turkey.
Knowing you'll have to wait another year to do it again.

That's (obviously) a partial list.

I was thinking about writing a long pre-Christmas post. I planned on wishing everyone a great holiday, etc., while simultaneously discussing some of my personal opinions about Christmas, tolerance, and a host of other issues that would make Bill O'Reilly turn five shades of Santa Claus red while chanting "secular progressive, secular progressive, culture war, culture war."

I didn't. I decided that no matter how anyone interprets and celebrates their December holidays, the most important thing to me is that they really enjoy it and find some positive meaning in the process. I decided that the rants about putting the "Christ back in Christmas" and the polemics by those offended by Christmas trees are equally boring. I just want everyone to take a deep breath and to find some joy for a few days.

I hope you did!