My recent medical situation — not all that serious in the long run, but incapacitating me for a while — has made it necessary for me to cut this week's page-change right down to a minimum. Please have patience. I expect to be back in the saddle very shortly, and as feisty as ever.....

Yes, as usual, in my year-end greetings and best wishes, I point up a profound disaffection for those "Fierce Friend in the Sky" notions that so much of our species will embrace, particularly in this season. And I look upon Santa as just another of those notions, just as believable and far more probable.

We in the USA have suffered a terrible blow, dictated to zealots by an imaginary playmate of theirs named Allah, who to them is a vindictive, savage, dreadful monster who tells them to kill and to suicide. We'll get over it because most of us aren't totally locked into the my-god's-bigger-than-your-god fantasy, or we don't take it all that seriously. If I thought that all the politicians who professed submission to deities, really meant it, I'd really be worried.

This solstice, join me in celebrating your families and your friends. Hug lots of people. Try hard to get that warm feeling of accomplishment that we all so enjoy when we've done "the right thing." Smile more than you usually do. Scratch a dog's ears when it's not convenient to do so. And surprise someone with an unexpected gesture of kindness you never thought you could bring yourself to do.

We're not here for all that long. I'm very busy right now catching up on good deeds. Will you join me?