Freedom On Toast

I am sort of a geek.  I love Christmas music and love to have it playing as I am decorating for the holidays or doing anything related to the holidays.   That’s my confession for the day.

So I found it amusing today when I found this article about the 10 worse Christmas songs of all time (according to spinner.com).  Now, I have to admit, I haven’t heard some of these, but just their titles intrigue me.  Who would name a Christmas song,  “Merry Christmas (I don’t want to fight tonight)” anyway?  It sort of implies that there is fighting all the time so heck - let’s take the day off!  Hmmm, doesn’t quit bring about the warm, fuzzy feelings of the holiday spirit now does it!  Or how about the “Christmas Conga?”  It exceeds my meager imagination.

So here’s the list.  You can have fun finding your own least favorite.  I am sure you can see any of these on YouTube.com. 

Here is a list of the top ten worst Christmas songs according to spinner.com.

1) Cyndi Lauper - “Christmas Conga”

2) Destiny’s Child - “8 Days of Christmas”

3) No Doubt - “Oi to the World”

4) The Ramones - “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight)”

5) Clay Aiken - “Merry Christmas With Love”

6) The Beach Boys - “Santa’s Beard”

7) Bruce Springsteen - “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”

The Smashing Pumpkins - “Christmastime”

PS - I have no idea why the little smiley guy is there.  It’s not an indication of my personal favorite.

9) Paul McCartney - “Wonderful Christmastime”

10) Madonna - “Santa Baby”

However, in the interest of holiday tradition, don’t forget to listen to a little Bing as he croons White Christmas!

It’s great we live in a Country that offers us a great deal of freedom.  But some don’t take advantage of all that is before them.  Particularly when it comes to their own freedom of choice. 

Jim Rohn did a great little article about choices and I thought I would share that today.  Enjoy and take advantage of all of your options.

Two Choices We Face
by Jim Rohn

Each of us have two distinct choices to make about what we will do with our lives… The first choice we can make is to be less than we have the capacity to be. To earn less. To have less. To read less and think less. To try less and discipline ourselves less. These are the choices that lead to an empty life. These are the choices that, once made, lead to a life of constant apprehension instead of a life of wondrous anticipation.

And the second choice? To become all that we can possibly be! To read every book that we possibly can. To earn as much as we possibly can. To give and share as much as we possibly can. To strive and produce and accomplish as much as we possibly can. All of us have the choice.

To do or not to do. To be or not to be. To be all, or to be less.

Like the tree, it would be a worthy challenge for us all to stretch upward and outward to the full measure of our capabilities. Why not do all that we can, every moment that we can, the best that we can, for as long as we can?

Our ultimate life objective should be to create as much as our talent and ability and desire will permit. To settle for doing less than we could do is to fail in this worthiest of undertakings.

Results are the best measurement of human progress. Not conversation. Not explanation. Not justification. Results! And if our results are less than our potential suggests that they should be, then we must strive to become more today than we were the day before. The greatest rewards are always reserved for those who bring great value to themselves and the world around them as a result of who and what they have become.

Maybe it’s a Monday affliction.  Maybe it’s because I have had a cold for about 6 weeks.  Maybe it’s because I am really dreaming of sitting on a beach with a cute beach waiter serving me frilly drinks.  Yet when I look out the window all I see is wind blowing snow around.  Maybe it’s just because they are funny!

But I ran across a website today that made me laugh.  Not just a little chuckle, but an outright laugh out loud laugh.

We all know that a motivational comment can pick us up a bit.  That just the right words can give us a kick in the rear end and move us toward action.  But we also know that sometimes, even though we KNOW motivational comments are a good thing, sarcasm has it’s place in our world.  I know you are so surprised to learn that I can enjoy sarcasm sometimes (yeah right!) but this site was so funny I think I might buy a few just because.

Want to see what all the laughing was about?  Visit www.Despair.com  If you don’t laugh yourself then I will add you to my holiday list but don’t be surprised when you receive a poster that says,

Indifference

It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but it doesn’t take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face.

Geez, sometimes the news is so…dumb!  Today it was announced that we are in a recession.  I wanted to yell at the TV and say DUH!  I wonder how many economists got together to figure that out?  I mean come on!  The dow is down.  The foreclosures are up.  The unemployment rate is up.  And they just figured this out today?  We have bailed out insurance giants.  We will likely bailout the auto industry.  Heck, we even bailed out the banks!  If the banks can’t figure it out how do they expect us to figure it out?   I’ll be making my own pitch for a bailout any day now - and I am so sure they will just dole out a couple million to me.

Really, in spite of all those things, life is relatively good!  People are out buying presents for the holidays at a higher rate than expected.  Companies are still hiring albeit at a slower rate.  And I see people driving new cars almost everyday.  So call it what you want but the majority of people seem to be moving along in life with seemingly little change to their day to day lives.  Heck, even the gas prices are down.  And the “Big Boys” are still flying their private jets to Washington to ask for money!  Everything seems status quo is you ask me.

So go ahead.  Call it a recession today if you want.  But don’t live like it’s a recession.  Go about your normal business and before you know it the media will be calling it an economic upturn and we will all believe that too.

If all else fails, you can email me and I will tell you how the economy is doing.  After all, I seem to know as much as anyone else in spite of the fact that I don’t have a degree in economics or a panel of experts on hand.

The holiday spirit should include great things.  Like peace, love, joy, fun and maybe a little magic.  It should be a time to rediscover the things that make you happy. 

So remember this name.  Jdimytai Damour.  Jdimytai did not experience the great “holiday spirit” as he was killed last Friday.  He did not see peace, love, or joy.  His last visions as he tried to hold back the door at Walmart was of an anxious mob seeking bargains.  As he and 6-10 other Walmart workers tried to hold back the door, the crowd pushed back and the door to Walmart shattered.  Mr. Damour probably didn’t have any idea that he was about to die as the throng of shoppers trampled his fallen body.  Four other Walmart workers were injured as well, including a 28 year old woman who is 8 months pregnant.

Equally appalling is the fact that when shoppers were asked to leave the store, store employees were yelled at by customers, stating they had been in line for hours.  These people knew a man had been killed and they were still after a bargain.

I wonder if the gift recipients will be told that they got that gift because the shopper was able to lead the stampede.  Will anyone boast that they got the bargain by stepping on some guy in the lobby?  Do they know his name?  Will they acknowledge their responsibility?  Will they send an apology to the family?

What has become of us as a society if we are so focused on a bargain that saving $20.00 is worth another man’s life?  That is a scary thought indeed.

So as you go through the holidays, remember Jdimytai Damour.  And remember that the holidays are a celebration of peace and goodwill - not Wiis and new TVs.

It’s that time of year when we have lots of things to do and seemingly (note I said seemingly) little time to do them all.  Well, there is a great little book by Brian Tracy called, Eat That Frog.  It’s well worth the read if you are one who tends to procrastinate.  But there is also a short video you might find helpful.  Enjoy!

http://www.eatthatfrogmovie.com/