Do You Know It's Christmas Every Day?

My first official maudlin for the season.

Radio playing "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

And I'm crying like a baby.

The words running through my mind as the tears run down my face and my moustache gets all messy: Do they know?

Do the artists understand?

Do the fans?

Do you know it's Christ-time every day?

I'm not knocking art for charity efforts. They have their place and use, definitely better than turning a collective back on people in need -- and much, much better than wheeling in the machines of war against the supposedly evil enemy of the day.

But we should all be making it Christmas every day for the people around us -- not necessarily giving what's easy to give, but reaching out, giving our time, finding what they need, and helping them.

If we were busy helping each other, we wouldn't have time to argue whether Trump is a worse president than Obama or Bush.

If the Ethiopians were busy helping each other, they wouldn't have time to argue about abstract principles of capital.

If Bill Gates were busy (really) helping people, he wouldn't have time to implement yet more "new" strategies to keep shoring up that ageing (non-)OS and office (non-)productivity suite in the market, and other solutions could rightfully compete.

If I were busy really helping people, I wouldn't have time to post useless webrants.

We wouldn't have time to try to put people in jail because their life has been so cruel they seem to need drugs.

We wouldn't have time to give people in struggling countries more reason to hate these who seem to them to have no problems.

We wouldn't have time to waste valuable resources capturing markets and money streams and putting weaker competitors out of business. We wouldn't have time to convince ourselves someone else is weaker, or to convince ourselves that the supposedly weaker has no place.

So much of what is wrong in the world is caused by people who have too much time on their hands -- simply because they refuse to see that it's Christmas every day. They refuse to reach out and help.

They, no, we refuse to remember the spirit of giving, the spirit of Christmas every day.

New Book -- Love Undefined (Anthology)

The LDS Beta Readers group that I've been participating in lately has released several anthologies of short-short stories written by members.

The most recent is called Love Undefined. (No, I haven't got a story in it.)

If you are interested in Mormon versions of condensed sweet romances where the girl gets her guy, these tales will be interesting.

And if you enjoy clean, short romances of love, with a hint of O. Henry-esque twist, you'll enjoy them:

* A blood-sucking immortal night-flyer finds repentance, family, and salvation.

* A teenage girl in a clan of were-creatures finds that love is more than a prop for her ego and salve to her wounded pride, when an enemy saves her life.

* Two journals record two series of dreams running in parallel in reverse.

* Christian traditions and symbolism bring a soldier back to life twice under an alien sun.

* A single woman finds love looking through her list of old flames and crushes.

* Two tartaned warriors find a way to end the bloody conflict between their clans.

* A pimpled musical prodigy finds a blind fan for her music, who inspires her to excel.

* A soldier cruelly disfigured by war wins more than friendship with the congregation's chorister.

* An inhabitant of a cold, gray and blue world unwisely leaves the protection of her world and her pack, and goes through a magic portal to a bright, vibrantly colorful, and too warm world, only to discover she can't return in her new human form. But she finds a place in her new world with her new human friend.

* A mail-order bride escaping a brothel on a slum planet finds two kinds of welcome when she arrives at her new home under two suns.

* When the reasons for a father's odd arrangement for his son to spend summers with the widow and daughter of his father's deceased business partner become clear, he rebels against the arrangement so she can have her freedom.

* And a couple celebrates their feelings for each other with a dinner and a surprise diamond ring.

Twelve authors, twelve excellent stories. Judging from activity in the group, at least some of these will turn into sneak previews for coming novels. I kind of hope they all do.

In the meantime, the anthology is available on Amazon, or direct if you know a member of the group.