When I was newly married to my first husband in 1997, he bought me a dishwasher for my birthday.  I was furious.  Yes, I was washing dishes by hand because we didn't have a dishwasher.

My to-do list at any given time has 150-200 items. With the holidays approaching, this goes up exponentially! My body needed a break. My husband, Doug, turned on the TV, and we were binge-watching Christmas movies before I knew it. We watched A Christmas Story Christmas (sequel to A Christmas Story with Peter Billingsly), Four Christmases (Vince Vaughan & Reese Witherspoon), and Candy Cane Lane (Eddie Murphy).

I was at a Christmas party this past week, and one of my friends broke down and started crying. She is having a tough time this holiday season. She’s reached out to her children and they have not returned her calls. She asks herself, “Why don’t they call me?” “Why are they being this way?” “Why don’t they want me in their lives?” Maybe her kids are ungrateful and selfish brats, and maybe they’re perfectly justified in their actions because they view her as a horrible mother. Whatever the reasons are, she’s asking herself the wrong questions.

There are two kinds of people: people who love the holidays, and people who hate the holidays.

My Aunt Rose, at least in my mind, is the perfect example of someone who LOVES the holidays. On Oct 31st when the last "trick-or-treater" is off her porch, Aunt Rose gleefully begins unpacking her Christmas decorations. The sheer volume of decorations she has in storage ensures she starts on November 1st to get done in time for Thanksgiving. Aunt Rose takes super-excellent care of her Christmas decorations.

Please enjoy this collection of quotes from modern day philosophers (comedians) about the true meaning of the holidays. ~Traci

Aren’t we forgetting the true meaning of Christmas? The birth of Santa? -Bart Simpson

It would be a Hanukkah miracle if we could decide on a way to spell "Hanukkah." —anonymous