It’s Christmas, that magical time of year when we settle old scores, and lay the seeds of discontent for the forthcoming year’s grudges.  No, wait, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.  We’re supposed to be thankful for the love we share, for all the good things that happened in the previous year, and look forward to prosperity in the New Year.  In case anyone else forgot…

In that spirit, I’d like to thank all of you for your support and readership.  So why don’t you all grab a glass of my seriously spiked nog, and curl up next to the fireplace while I tell  you a tale.

Looking back, we it’s been a year of unprecedented change.  So many things that so few of us could have even begun to suspect just a scant 12 months ago.  From the Presidential Election, to the push towards Social Media, and the emergence of web video.  There was the implosion of newspapers, which seemingly will be followed by a fall for the networks as the barriers to univeral web video are removed.

And then there’s the economic crisis looming large in our minds.  The numbers aren’t in, but I’ll predict this: the Christmas selling season numbers for retail will surprise us.  The predictions of dire straits will fail us, but only because we as a people have powered through and perhaps overspent while we whistled our way by the graveyard.  (Note: just because people are buying doesn’t mean their doing it at a price that will provide retailers with a profit – see this story…)

My gift to all of you this Christmas Season is this one bit of knowledge: with great challenges comes great opportunities.  We all have it within ourselves to seize the day, to persevere where others fail.

My best wishes to you and yours, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or nothing at all.

Oh, for my jam band friends…here’s a link to check out…the Dead jam with Allmann Brothers and Fleetwood Mac – a seminal classic jam.