'Scrooge' finds Christmas spirit

'Tis the season for my annual bah humbug Christmas column. Because just like every year, when Labor Day rolls around and I start seeing Christmas ads I start to cringe.

Normally this time of year I put on my Scrooge cap and rant on the many things I dislike about Christmas. Having to go into crowded stores with angry shoppers looking for that perfect gift when you have no idea what anyone wants. I should get gift certificates but I can't ever get the price tags off.

Then digging into the closet to get out the Christmas decorations with the tangled lights, many of which don't work that go on an artificial tree that is beginning to look like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

I would usually be trashing the terrible Christmas movies like the depressing "It's a Wonderful Life" or the awful "Home Alone" or the horribly acted and written, possibly the worst movie of all-time - "White Christmas."

Let us not forget the 100 Santa Claus impostors with the fake beards and fake bellies scaring the jollies out of children with their bellowing of "HO! HO! HO!" Have you ever wondered why Santa Claus ages but never dies? Anyway...

I vowed this year would be different. Instead of being the cold-hearted Scrooge that makes ole Cratchit work for pennies in the cold I would be the warm-hearted Scrooge that gives Tiny Tim a piggy-back ride. Yes, I'm embracing the spirit of the holiday and hell hasn't even frozen over. No, I'm not dying, at least not that I know of.

Yes, I finished my Christmas shopping early and didn't complain once. I even went to stores among real people instead of doing all of my shopping online. And I am actually wrapping a few gifts this year instead of throwing them all in bags and by bags I mean the plastic bags I bought them in. I might even buy a few bows this year.

I have taken my girlfriend looking at Christmas lights and even let her decorate my house. I haven't even complained when co-workers decorated the office or played Christmas music during work hours. As a matter of fact, I'm listening to Christmas music as I write this, and not even the sordid melodies of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer."

I have gone to watch friends perform in their church's Christmas program, read the story of Jesus' birth and watched Christmas programs on television like "Rudolph," "Frosty" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

I have even broke down and watched some of my favorite Christmas movies like "Die Hard," "Lethal Weapon," "Batman Returns," "A Christmas Carol" and of course the best Christmas movie of all "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." That movie is only slightly ahead of the always funny "Christmas Story" that I am looking forward to seeing on Christmas Eve.

A funny thing happened on the way to trying to become the warm-hearted Scrooge -- I found Christmas season can be enjoyable if you don't dread everything about it. Don't get me wrong, if I hear the voice of Danny Kaye or Bing Crosby I start looking for lumps of coal to chuck at everyone sporting a Christmas smile. I guess I'm not completely converted.

But for the first time in many, many years I have realized that we have to look past all the things wrong with the Christmas season and remember what Christmas is truly about. Only then can you see how blessed you truly are. And I am blessed beyond belief with faith, a great family, terrific friends and a job I truly enjoy.

So merry Christmas to all and in the words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one."