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Merry Christmas
Friends,
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It is that time of year when we are invited to remember, reflect, and be grateful. I am most grateful for the memories that I've shared with the people who are important to me.
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To me, the true spirit of the Christmas season has always been that invisible force that disregards all the usual divisions that we use to define ourselves and others. It transcends cultures, religions, and differences of any kind, offering a universal message of good will, peace, and grace toward every person who is wishes to acknowledge it. It gives us permission to step back from our daily lives long enough to remember that believing in things we cannot see or measure can have a positive impact in these daily lives.
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Some of you I see you often, and some of you less so, but if you are receiving this from me, it means you have been in my thoughts this year.
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So no matter where you are in the world, please take a moment to accept my thanks for your being a part of my life this year. And in the true spirit of the season, please feel free to pass this on to anyone else who might benefit from this message this holiday season.
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I wish you all peace, health and happiness as this year comes to an end and makes way for 2021.
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Yours Truly,
Christmas Variations
00:00 / 07:37
Performed by Oscar Utterstrom (trombone) and Paul Epp (trumpet and piano)
Arrangements and production by Paul Epp
Quotes for the Christmas Season​
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"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. "
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- Calvin Coolidge
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"Love, I find, is like singing. Everybody can do enough to satisfy themselves, though it may not impress the neighbors as being very much."
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- Zora Neale Hurston​
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"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?"
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- Bob Hope
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"Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends."
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- Margaret Thatcher
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"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."
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- Buddha​
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"“Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed - but hate these things in yourself, not in another.”"
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- Thomas Merton​
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"If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character.
If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home.
If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nations.
When there is order in the nations, there will peace in the world."
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- Confucius
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"BUM ... bum bum bum ... bum ... bum ... bum ... bum ... BUM..."
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- from The Nutcracker, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
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