1. “Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years… Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart.”
   – George Matthew Adams
   
2. “The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.”
   – Louisa May Alcott
   
3. “Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart… filled it, too, with a melody that would last forever.”
   – Bess Streeter Aldrich
   
4. ” The perfect Christmas tree? All Christmas trees are perfect!”
   – Charles N. Barnard
   
5. “Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.”
   – Peg Bracken
   
6. “The earth has grown old with its burden of care But at Christmas it always is young, The heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair And its soul full of music breaks the air, When the song of angels is sung.”
   – Phillips Brooks
   
7. “I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never aone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the word seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.”
   – Taylor Caldwell
   
8. “Remember, if Christmas isn’t found in your heart, you won’t find it under a tree.”
   – Charlotte Carpenter
   
9. “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.”
   – Calvin Coolidge
   
10. “Christmas, in its final essence, is for grown people who have forgotten what children know. Christmas is for whoever is old enough to have denied the unquenchable spirit of man.”
    – Margaret Cousins
    
11. “Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white’.”
    – Bing Crosby
    
12. “Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing: Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears, Let us hold close one day, remembering Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men. Let us get back our childlike faith again.”
    – Grace Noll Crowell
    
13. “It is the personal thoughtfulness, the warm human awareness, the reaching out of the self to one’s fellow man that makes giving worthy of the Christmas spirit.”
    – Isabel Currier
    
14. “Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget.”
    – Hugh Downs
    
15. “They err who thinks Santa Claus comes down through the chimney; he really enters through the heart.”
    – Mrs. Paul M. Ell
    
16. “Christmas, my child, is love in action.”
    – Dale Evans
    
17. “Do give books – religious or otherwise – for Christmas. They’re never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal.”
    – Lenore Hershey
    
18. “My first copies of Treasure Island and Huckleberry Finn still have some blue-spruce needles scattered in the pages. They smell of Christmas still.”
    – Charlton Heston
    
19. “At Christmas, all roads lead home.”
    – Marjorie Holmes
    
20. “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?”
    – Bob Hope
    
21. “The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas.”
    – W. C. Jones
    
22. “A Christmas candle is a lovely thing; It makes no noise at all, But softly gives itself away; While quite unselfish, it grows small.”
    – Eva K. Logue
    
23. “Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive.”
    – Robert Lynd
    
24. “Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.”
    – Hamilton Wright Mabi
    
25. “The merry family gatherings– The old, the very young; The strangely lovely way they Harmonize in carols sung. For Christmas is tradition time– Traditions that recall The precious memories down the years, The sameness of them all.”
    – Helen Lowrie Marshall
    
26. “There is no ideal Christmas; only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions.”
    – Bill McKibben
    
27. “I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.”
    – Harlan Miller
    
28. “Christmas is the keeping-place for memories of our innocence.”
    – Joan Mills
    
29. “Christmas is, of course, the time to be home – in heart as well as body.”
    – Garry Moore
    
30. “What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.”
    – Agnes M. Pharo
    
31. “Mankind is a great, an immense family… This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas.”
    – Pope John XXIII
    
32. “One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.”
    – Andy Rooney
    
33. “Christmas–that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance–a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.”
    – Augusta E. Rundel
    
34. “Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.”
    – Charles Schulz
    
35. “As long as we know in our hearts what Christmas ought to be, Christmas is.”
    – Eric Sevareid
    
36. “Christmas is the day that holds time together.”
    – Alexander Smith
    
37. “Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion.”
    – Ralph Sockman
    
38. “Christmas … is not an eternal event at all, but a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart.”
    – Freya Stark
    
39. “Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends.”
    – Margaret Thatcher
    
40. “At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year.”
    – Thomas Tusser
    
41. “What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic.”
    – Unknown
    
42. “Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.”
    – Unknown
    
43. “If there is no joyous way to give a festive gift, give love away.”
    – Unknown
    
44. “Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas. All else is outward display–so much tinsel and decorations. For it isn’t the holly, it isn’t the snow. It isn’t the tree not the firelight’s glow. It’s the warmth that comes to the hearts of men when the Christmas spirit returns again.”
    – Unknown
    
45. “Many banks have a new kind of Christmas club in operation. The new club helps you save money to pay for last year’s gifts.”
    – Unknown
    
46. “Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world – stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death – and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.”
    – Henry Van Dyke
    
47. “Christmas is for children. But it is for grownups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.”
    – Lenora Mattingly Weber
    
48. “Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance – each beautiful, unique and too soon gone.”
    – Deborah Whipp
    
49. “Somehow, not only for Christmas, But all the long year through, The joy that you give to others, Is the joy that comes back to you. And the more you spend in blessing, The poor and lonely and sad, The more of your heart’s possessing, Returns to you glad.”
    – John Greenleaf Whittier
    
50. “Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.”
    – Larry Wilde

The 2010 BCS selection show finalized the 2010 BCS bowl schedule. This particular BCS bowl schedule isn’t as impressive as it could have been, because again the BCS was afraid to pit Boise State or TCU up against any of the other top schools. Instead fans are left with a Boise State vs. TCU game which is good on paper, but just becomes another slap in the face to conferences that aren’t part of the BCS automatic qualifier process. It also gives the bigger schools yet another excuse not to play them, because they didn’t have a hand in BCS selection Sunday.

The BCS National Championship Game will have Texas vs. Alabama, and will take place on January 7th, 2010 at 5:00 P.M. PST on ABC. That should be a good game, but it’s ridiculous how many votes separated TCU from Texas in the final polls. That’s what it came down to in the end anyways, votes on which team would be the more popular choice to play in the 2010 National Championship game, not actually who was the better team. The Orange Bowl ended up with an Iowa vs. Georgia Tech match-up that will take place on January 5th, 2010 at 5:00 P.M. PST on Fox.

source: http://www.examiner.com/x-7460-Spokane-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m12d6-2010-BCS-bowl-schedule-set-after-bowls-selection

The 27th California International Marathon will be starting on Sunday morning in Folsom. In this years race, over 7,000 runners will take part from all over the world. These runners will try their level best to be the first to cross the finishing line in downtown Sacramento. According to reports, it is expected that about 50,000 spectators will witness the 27th California International Marathon as they stand along the race route. This years marathon will be a 26-mile and 385-yard marathon. At Auburn-Folsom Boulevard in Folsom, the 27th California International Marathon began at 7 a.m., and it will finish at the State Capitol.

This years marathon has broken all its previous records as a record number of 7,500 entrants have reached the race. It means that 1000 more runner have participated as compared to last years race.

source: http://news.puggal.com/california-international-marathon-13192/

These fans can place their ticket order for two tickets and the Gator Ticket Office will notify them by Tuesday, Dec. 15, to verify that their order has been filled or not. Those fans that fall below the 501 point cut-off and place an order are not guaranteed to have their orders filled until the Gator Ticket Office assesses how many tickets are available from those fans who meet the point cut-off of 501 points.

These fans will be notified via e-mail or can call the Gator Ticket Office starting Wednesday, Dec. 16, to inquire about their ticket order. Tickets are $125 each and football season-ticket holders are allowed to order within the limits listed below for each priority. The Gator Ticket Office anticipates that it will be able to fill a majority of ticket orders for the bowl game based on the following parameters listed below

source: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/dec/06/college-football-gators-selling-sugar-bowl-tickets/

The Nebraska defensive coordinator was in his elements after the great victory over Colorado. He regaled people by breaking jokes about him, his family and also his teammates.Forty four year old Carl Pelini is the Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Line Coach for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team. He is also the older brother of Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini.

Pelini had a relatively short playing career, putting in just two seasons at Columbia University in New York City in 1983 and 1984 as a middle linebacker before returning home to finish his degree.

source: http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30043&Itemid=60

The Patriots-Saints game finished just shy of ESPNs Monday Night Football telecast October 5 (Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings), which set the all-time cable records for households (15,136,000) and viewers (21,839,000), based on an ESPN-record 15.3 rating. ESPN has set the cable household viewership record four times in as many years since acquiring the rights to MNF. In all, cables seven biggest household audiences ever — and eight of the top 10 (excluding breaking news) are ESPN MNF games.

Mondays game delivered a combined 35.0 rating in Boston (13.1 on ESPN and 21.9 on WCVB-ABC), as well as a combined 66.7 rating in New Orleans (23.3 on ESPN and 43.4 on WDSU-NBC). The New Orleans rating is the highest combined local rating for ESPNs Monday Night Football this year, surpassing the 63.9 in New Orleans for the Falcons-Saints game (Nov. 2).

source : http://www.bizoffootball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=585:patriots-saints-game-second-highest-cable-tv-rated-show-all-time&catid=40:television&Itemid=57