I just want to say that I'd rather spend Christmas with some honest, lonely and depressed people than with a lot of the "happy" families and religious people I know. It is authentic relationship that is sacred to me, not happiness and presents, and the make believe family gatherings of so many.

Now, I'm not a Christmas Scrooge. There are genuinely happy people, genuinely life-giving families and religious groups. But a hallmark of any such person or group should be their ability to truly be with those who are suffering. What the truly happy have cannot be taken away or contaminated by honesty and authenticity, unless happiness is only a sophisticated form of denial.

So I say, let's get rid of the notion that the holidays should symbolize some kind of merriment that implies the down-hearted are not invited, and instead hope for days that knit hearts together. That would truly make for a merry Christmas in my book.