A colleague pointed out an amusing Christmas story from the Miami Herald, which I will post below... In the meantime, I am ready to start my vacation over the holidays. 2007 has been a very good year and I've got a lot to be thankful for. I think most of us do, if we take the time to reflect.
For one thing, I've had the pleasure to write about so many amazing individuals. And one of the most inspiring, to me, is Sister Sujita, the leader of the world's Sisters of Notre Dame. She grew up in a middle-class family in southern India but after college lived in the Bombay slums with the poorest of the poor, for more than 10 years. She said not having any material possessions is "liberating." Quite a thought, especially in this time of year when we are supposed to be thinking about the birth of God's son but instead we're making shopping lists and snarling at traffic and elbowing shoppers out of way to get that precious sale item... When Sister Sujita told me her motto, it just hit me like a ton of bricks: "Be more and have less."

Here is a link to the article, published today, about this amazing woman.

Meanwhile, although I'll be on vacation, I won't be going anywhere next week except for a quick trip to Grand Rapids, Mich. I am hoping I will have time to get caught up on the all the things I've been forced to put off while I scramble around trying to take care of the necessities of life.
Like cleaning up my den, for example. Everything is just piled up in there and I can barely see my desktop. I'm looking forward to organizing everything.
Well here's the story about a baby Jesus statue stolen from someone's nativity scene on their lawn in Florida, replaced by a generous person who happens to be Jewish, and is now protected by a sheet of plexiglass and equipped with a GPS tracking device in case he gets stolen again... In a lot of ways, this story is stranger than fiction.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all my friends out there in cyberspace...
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Out-of-town benefactor, GPS ensure safety of the Holy Family
By Rodolfo R. Roman
McClatchy Newspapers
MIAMI — In Bal Harbour, Fla., the Baby Jesus statue is back where it belongs.
And just to make sure the statue doesn’t go missing again, Jesus, Mary and Joseph will be equipped with GPS tracking devices.
For six years, Dina Cellini has put up a Nativity display in Bal Harbour’s Founders Circle. But earlier this month, someone took off with the statue of Jesus. Cincinnati resident Jeffrey Harris read a story about the crime online.
“I felt bad. How could someone steal a baby Jesus?” said Harris, who celebrates Hanukkah, not Christmas.
“Even though I am Jewish, I like the Christmas spirit,” said Harris, a civil attorney. So he offered to replace the figurine.
“He’s a wonderful human being,” Cellini said. “It’s so fitting that this negative act ended generously.”
But now, Cellini is taking no more chances. In perhaps the ultimate merger of old and new, she plans to add GPS tracking devices to the statues.
Cellini, using residents’ contributions and her own money, bought the Italian-made, resin baby Jesus statue from Moroneys’ Religious Art store in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.. It was part of a larger stable scene that is lit up at night, next to a Christmas tree and a menorah.
“I felt there needed to be a religious presence,” said Cellini, who has lived in Bal Harbour for 21 years. “Christmas gets lost because of the commercialism.”
But just three days after she put up the decorations this year, someone stole the statue — which had been bolted to the display platform. Other parts of the scene were left undisturbed.
She went on the WMXJ radio morning show to plead for Jesus’ return. A $500 reward was offered. Bal Harbour police urged the culprit to return the figurine.
But the thief wasn’t ready to seek forgiveness.
Then along came Harris.
Neither Cellini nor Harris would say how much he paid, adding it was the gesture that counted, not the amount.
The new baby Jesus arrived Tuesday.
Cellini installed it in the nativity scene and, to make sure things stay put, installed a four-foot high plexiglass screen in front of the entire display that’s impossible to reach across.
The GPS tracking device will be extra insurance.
“I don’t anticipate this will ever happen again,” said Cellini, “but we may need to rely on technology to save our savior.”
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(c) 2007, The Miami Herald.
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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.