My favorite Christmas commercial this year is for Audi, Santa is ringing a bell, his elf assistant, standing next to him, as one man sees the Audi, he walks over to them and throws his current car keys into the pail.  Then a woman sees the car and does the same thing.  Then comes my favorite part.  The elf, a woman that looks a little dumpy, wearing an elf outfit, with tights and false ears, looks at Santa and says "We're gonna need a bigger bucket."  She says this with a sneaky little smile, like she knows she is making a joke...maybe even knows that it's a take off from the famous line from Jaws "We're gonna need a bigger boat."  Anyway, she makes the commercial and I love it.  Some do not, some say it is taking a poke at the Salvation Army's work that is important, but I think it is just cute.

There is a Salvation Army bell ringer outside of Adams' every day, since Thanksgiving.  He has a very nice face and was written up in the local paper a few years back, as having done this for many, many years.  I can't resist him or his bucket or his bell, and always pull out a dollar.  Christmas is the season for giving, and I was reminded today of something Maria did years ago.

Her bank in Red Hook had a Christmas Tree in the lobby, with cut out stars, each bearing the name of a child, the age and sex.  The idea was to pick a star, get a gift and bring it back to the bank before Christmas.  Maria took one, I think a girl, and the next time she went to the bank, took another one.  Then she asked me if I could do it, and she picked a star for me and another for herself.  Well, a week before Christmas, Maria went to the bank, and was horrified at the number of stars remaining on the tree.  She picked every one off, determined that no kid would be left out.  We laughed at it at the time, we still smile at the thought of her picking off  every star on the tree...but what a lovely thought to have at this time of year.