THANKS FOR ALL THOSE HOLIDAY PROGRAMS

If you haven't been to at least one Christmas program this year, you're missing out on a lot of holiday spirit.

Schools, churches and organizations have put together music, words and costumes to tell -- and retell -- the story of Christmas. Whether the story is about the Nativity as told by the Gospel writers or about the spirit of the season as told by Charles Dickens and Dr. Seuss, there are lessons to be learned every time we sit through another holiday program.

It's fun to watch children in the church play. It's a joy to hear the glorious voices of choir members sing the praises of the yuletide. And it's pretty easy too. All you have to do is show up.

But for all those singers and musicians and children and costumers and coordinators and schedulers, this is a hectic time of year.

So to all those who work so hard to make the holidays so memorable and so enjoyable for the rest of us: Thank you. Thank you very much.