What Rug Thinks

Every year we have to hear about how it's so wrong to say Happy Holidays and we should all be saying Merry Christmas instead. I have news for you Christmas people. The holidays is not just Christmas. Here is a short list of some common holidays that are celebrated around the same time of year. New Year - Celebrated December 31st on into the early hours of January 1st. Hogmanay - Same as new year in the Scottish tradition. Berchtoldstag - Same as new year in the  Switzerland and Liechtenstein traditions. Malanka - The Russian new year celebrated January 13th. Hanukkah - While it varies a bit, it falls somewhere from late November to late December. Kwanzaa - Celebrated December 26th to January 1st. Chalica - Starts the first Monday in December and lasts seven days according to Unitarian Universalists. Winter Solstice - Celebrated whenever the winter solstice takes place. This year it happens to be on December 22nd. Dydd Santes Dwynwen - The Welsh equivalent to valen

There comes a time in some people's lives when they are faced with something that seems impossible to get through. No matter what the something is you are left with two choices, give up or keep going. The choice is yours and yours alone. You can consider all the pros and cons of each option. You can debate about it until you are blue in the face, but you still have to choose if you are going to quit or persevere. There is a song by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones called Tragedy that has some interesting things to think about these types of situations. While the entire song is really relevant to this discussion, the line that really gets me is this one. "Have you ever felt the odds stacked up so high, you need a strength most don't possess? Or has it come down to do or die? You've got to rise above the rest." One of our former presidents has this to say. "Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles van