So you’re not a winter person. You endure the cold and the snow, but it’s not something you love. I’m not a fan either. I grew up in Wisconsin, and have lived in the cold and snow all my life. I’ve never gotten to the place where I’m ok with the weather. But winter has become possibly my most productive and spiritually/emotionally invigorating time of the year. Let me give you some tips.

The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People changed my life 30 years ago. I read the book in two days on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, 1992-1993. Before that, I had made meager attempts at setting goals. But starting that Friday, January 1, 1993, I became very serious about it. I set four lifetime goals, about a dozen long-term goals (10 years), and another dozen 1 year goals. And my life was changed in a significant way.

I can hear Andy Williams’ voice from childhood, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” It was that for me. It was the one time of the year when our whole family would be together (until my teen years), and my parents got along. So I associated Christmas with happiness.

But later, when I was in college and didn’t have a home for Christmas, I was one of just a few in an empty dorm.

There’s a meme flying around on social media picturing a man staring off into the distance with the words: “Wondering how I can get my wife the perfect Christmas gift when she already has me.”

I thought about reposting it for fun, just to see what my wife would write in the comments.

Every December I get questions from parents asking for my opinion on Santa: “Did you tell your kids about Santa?” Some Christians are very adamant: “Santa Claus is a replacement of Jesus in this secularized society and just another way of spreading materialism.” Others see the fable as a harmless, delightful fantasy: “I believed in Santa when I was a kid and it didn’t hurt me! It’s just a fun way to give the kids a little magical spark.”

The only reason Christians celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25 was because the Romans had a pagan celebration on that day and Christians took it over. Right?

Wrong. There’s no evidence for it.