Where's Santa When We Need Him?

I don’t remember a Christmas season

when we were more richly blessed with

high-quality, enriching entertainment.

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Our cultural enlightenment actually began

in October when we went to

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical presentation

“Phantom of the Opera”.

Granddaughter Brigitte was in the orchestra

or we might have missed it.

Amy saw the musical in Los Angeles

with Michael Crawford when

she was in high school.

She wasn’t a bit impressed

and wouldn’t go with us when we went

in Vegas last April.

We were astounded at the production

presented by Davis High School.

Amy wanted to go a second time

and we loved it even more.

Brigitte had a couple of solos on her cello

that were divine.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Pioneer Memorial Theater presented

A Christmas Carol, a musical

with music by Alan Menken,

lyrics by Lynn Ahrens,

based on Charles Dickens’ famous 1843 novel.

It touched my heart more this time than ever before.

I went twice.  (Read my blog.)

With “Rush” passes, you can go as many times as you like.

LINCOLN

We rarely go to movies

but we have wanted to see “Lincoln”.

It was suspenseful and absorbing

even though you know the outcome.

Superb acting.

I feel sorry for the wives of great men.

Spiteful – troubled – jealous.

Husbands of great women seem to fair better:
(At least in the movies.)
For example, 

Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria,

whose nine children married into

royal and noble families

across the continent,

earning them the nickname

“The Grandparents of Europe.”

Margaret Thatcher’s kind husband, Denis Thatcher,

a successful and wealthy divorced businessman.

She was the longest serving

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,

and the only woman ever to hold the post.

She was nicknamed the “Iron Lady” because of her

uncompromising politics and leadership style.

After the movie,

we watched the light show at Farmington Station Park

eating the popcorn we forgot to eat during

the movie because it was so compelling;

and staying warm by the vast outdoor fireplace.

Magical.

KAYSVILLE LITERARY ART GUILD CHRISTMAS PARTY

Two brothers who play multiple string instruments,

a base guitarist and a singer

who claims the only instrument she plays is

Jingling the bells

presented a delightful Christmasey show.

Dr. Snell went up afterwards to get even with

those lawyers for telling malicious doctor jokes.

TABERNACLE CHOIR CHRISTMAS BROADCAST

Amy and I left at 7:30 AM Sunday morning

to go to the Conference Center

for the Tabernacle Choir Christmas program

with special guests Alfie Boe, an amazing tenor,

and Tom Brokaw, an award-wining NBC news broadcaster.

Touching.  Beautiful.

After the broadcast,

they did a short concert

then they introduced all their wives.

Alfie Boe is British but he says his wife

is a Salt Lake City girl so she brought him home.

He played Jean Valjean in Les Misérables

and his Bring him Home

was achingly beautiful; mesmerizing.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing was so powerful

tears came to my eyes.

Tom Brokaw, known for celebrating

America’s “Greatest Generation”,

told the story

Christmas From Heaven:

A Gift that Changed the World”

about the "Candy Bomber"

Col. Gail "Hal" Halvorsen.

The Salt Lake City man spearheaded

an operation that dropped

23 tons of candy

during the Berlin airlift of 1948-49.

We sat rapt as the tale unfolded

amid eye-popping special effects,

then Halvorsen, an energetic man of 92,

took the stage.

For the guests, the choir sang A cappela

God Be With You Till We Meet Again.”

Meredith Brokaw, of course,

didn’t know she was doing it,

but she bravely wore pants

on Mormon Wear-Pants-to-Church Sunday.

Her birthday is on Christmas

and she told her husband

she always thought

when they sang the Hallelujah Chorus

it was just for her;

so today the Tabernacle Choir

sang the Hallelujah Chorus just for her.

They had her and Tom stand directly

in front of them while they sang.

They have been married 50 years.

Alfie Boe’s wife and Gail Halvorsen’s wife

both wore proper Sunday attire.

BROOKE’S TWO CONCERTS

Brooke has joined a professional singing group

“The Salt Lake Choral Artists” 
directed by Dr. Brady Allred.

Our next door neighbor, Dr. Jane Fjeldsted,

who conducts the Women’s Choir,

introduced he and his wife to Eddy

in front of the Assembly Hall on Temple Square

after the concert there.

Eddy wasn’t impressed but we were.

An x-choir director from North Carolina

came up to Brooke afterwards,

telling him what an excellent concert

they performed.

He says he follows Dr. Allred

and catches his concerts whenever he can.

He actually came to Salt Lake

for the Tabernacle Choir Christmas program.

“You travel this far for that?”

“I come every year.

I’d travel a lot further than this to attend.”

“How do you get tickets?”

“When Craig Jessop was here,

he’d send me tickets.

Forth row seats every year.

Since he’s gone,

I have to take my chances

with the lottery like everyone else.

I was lucky enough to get Sunday morning seats

but I still wanted to see a regular performance

so I stood in line Saturday night and got a seat.”

Amy and I got tickets because

I entered my name on Facebook and won.

I’ve never been chosen on the lottery.

The last time we went, years ago, Melissa got 10 tickets.

Free tickets are in high demand.

Another time I went to the

Sunday Morning Christmas broadcast with Brooke

and his family when someone gave him tickets.

After Brooke’s amazing concert in the Assembly Hall,

I wrote:

Brooke puts his whole heart and soul into it.

I still can’t believe our kids can sing.

Play instruments, yes;

sing, it doesn’t seem like one of ours.

Brooke was standing on the end in the Assembly Hall

and as I watched him sing,

it reminded me of the dream I had years ago.

The only dream I’ve had where I have seen Daddy vividly.

He was on the last row on the end in the Tabernacle Choir.

It seemed strange to me at the time

because Daddy never went to Salt Lake City.

Additionally, Esplins can’t sing.

Everybody in town knows that.

Tonight seeing Brooke in such a fine choir

was a little like that dream came true.

It was his grandson

instead of him

but he was up there

singing magnificently.

I think Brooke must resemble Daddy

in more ways than I have realized.

Déjà vu.
This is actually the second time
Brooke has honored Daddy.
March 21, 1997
As it happened,

Brooke was scheduled to play

with the Utah Symphony in Abravanel Hall

on Daddy’s birthday.

It seems a long ways

from the sheepherd to symphony hall;

yet I think Brooke

would be perfectly happy at the sheepherd

and I think Daddy enjoyed good music.

By coincidence,

it appeared the concert itself was in Daddy’s honor.

They played The Cowboys Overture;

the Suite from The Big Country,

and On the Trail from the Grand Canyon Suite.

Brooke second concert this season was in Gardner Hall.
"O Yule Full of Gladness"
Christmas Around the World

$20 tickets.  Professional, remember.

Amy thinks they are better

than the Tabernacle Choir because they are younger

and their voices don’t warble.

Thanks for bringing that up, Amy.

Every number was succor for the soul.

Penetrating.  Rich and full.

Sometimes fun.

Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious dinner

at our favorite Café Chang.

Even Ed ate everything without complaint.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

***********

Then we wondered

why there were no presents

under the tree

when we woke up on Christmas morning.

Not one of us stepped foot in a mall to shop

the whole season –

or more accurately,

the whole year.

*********

Wait!  There’s more.

We still have Amy’s birthday.

December 30.

DONNIE & MARIE

Amy’s only birthday present

(until Suzanne dropped by with a $20

Gift certificate to Osaka Sushi)

was a ticket to the Donnie & Marie show.

“They are icons of our time,” she said

in wanting to see them in Salt Lake City.

She had no interest in seeing them in Vegas.

It started snowing the day before Christmas

snowing intermittently

all Christmas day.

The day of the concert

the snow fell steadily the live-long day.

The roads were slick.

The snowplow hadn’t even been in our circle

or down Raymond Road, for that matter.

Heroic DeRay said he would drive us down,

As he was still trying to get the snowblower going

when it was time for us to leave,

Amy bravely headed out.

We parked in time to walk

through enchanting Temple Square

and the charming City Creek Center.

Perfect.

After hearing Alfie Boe with his rich tenor voice sing

“Bring Him Home”

I thought Donny & Marie were lacking in breath and depth,

until I caught the spirit of their energetic showmanship.

I didn’t go to sleep or even come close.

It was highly entertaining from start to finish – all 2½ hours.

And I’ll bet even Alfie Boe couldn’t dance in

dangerously high heels like Marie did all evening.

Amy said she was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

She went to see an icon couple and got an astounding show.

Yes, it was still snowing when we came out.

Courageously, Amy navigated us safely home.

And the next morning, while it was still snowing,

we left for Bryce.

But that’s another Blog.

Pets, Bless Them

DeRay and I are extreme

Do-it-yourselfers.

We don’t call the plumber;

We don’t call the electrician;

We don’t call the carpenters or the painters.

(We used to didn’t call a mechanic

but with computer cars,

we call Brandon.)

We cook from scratch;

Make our own bread.

We wash our own windows

And install our own blinds.
Plant our own vegetable garden
and fruit trees.

DeRay even built our own house

on the hollow.

Laid the brick, did the sheetrock.

Shingled the roof.

Poured the cement.

No need for subcontractors.

Time passes.  We grow old.

Crotchety and creakety.

We hire the carpets cleaned,

actually feeling quite sophisticated.

They look magnificent.  Easy.

Why didn’t we think of this sooner?
The next morning.

GNOCCHI!

Each cat seems to add his/her own unique contribution

to the family dynamics.

Genomes

Each evening at Bryce,

Amy would download her pictures

onto her computer

then show them to me.

“Wow,” I thought,

“that’s the best picture anyone has ever taken of me.”

“Wait!

That’s not my scarf or hat.

It’s not me at all!

It’s Amy.”

It was a moment of enlightenment.

What might have been, but isn’t.

It lasted just an instant,

yet it was so real it made me realize,

for the first time,

that we look alike.

We share the same genetics.

 Family resemblances are powerful.

I always thought she was more in her dad’s image:

Fair * Blond * Smart * Quick

Sharp * Bright * Clever * Capable

Striking * Problem solver * Good cook

Messy

Oh, Oh

This is more what I remembered.

Darn

Christmas Village

I had a little talk with Pancake, the cat, before we ever got the Christmas decorations out.  “Pancake,” I say with tender patience, “you can sleep on any bed in this house; you know that; you sleep on all the couches and chairs, even the velvet ones; you can sleep anyplace you want in the whole house except. . . do you think you might could possibly stay out of my Christmas villages this year?” 

Pancake looked up at me with trusting golden eyes, like, “Sure, Granny.  Anything you say, Granny. Sure thing. I love you, Granny.”

HO! HO! HO!

"Good old St. Nickolas or 'Santa Claus,' as the Americans first christened him, was a real person who lived in Russia about the time that old Diocletian was persecuting the early Christians. It is probably that St. Nicholas was imprisoned by this cruel emperor.
   "St. Nickolas had the true spirit of Christmas and went about giving comfort to the people and making children happy. He gave gifts but concealed the identity of the giver. . . .
   "Good old St. Nicholas has long gone the way of all mortals, but the joy he experienced in doing kindly deeds is now shared by millions who are learning that true happiness comes only by making others happy--the practical application of the Savior's doctrine of losing one's life to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service.

"It is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring 'peace on earth,' because it means--good will toward all men". (Gospel Ideals, p. 550-551).  David O. McKay

     I feel sorry for the Primary children in our Ward.  When we were children, Santa Claus came every year to the old Ward Hall.  After the program, we would sing Christmas Songs until the Jolly Old Elf arrived.  When we started to sing “Up on the House Top” the excitement was so electric we could hardly contain ourselves.  Soon cheers of glee burst out as Ole Santa came running in jingling his bells and calling “HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

Following dinner and a program at our Ward Christmas party on Saturday night, they announced that after the closing prayer the Bishop would be standing up front passing out treats to all of the children.

The Bishop?  Doesn’t he have tithing settlement?

I thought about all of the other fun things we did in the old ward hall.  We all learned to dance there, starting in Primary.  “Ten Pretty Girls,” “The Virginia Reel”; circle dances.  After mutual on Tuesday nights, we’d walk up from the church about ½ block away and square dance--"There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!".  We practiced for all the Stake and Regional Dance Festivals there; that’s where we held our Gold and Green Balls.  One night a week, we would roller skate.  One year, when our church house was sinking, we even attended all our church meetings in the old Ward Hall.  We put on plays and variety shows; not only church but all of our school functions were held there for many years; all of our ward dinners, nothing of which came from Sam’s or Costco.  Our seminary class put on the play “His Name Was Aunt Nellie,” to raise money to go to Salt Lake to conference.  I loved the smell of the makeup and thought the makeup artists were geniuses. 

Dale Heaton, stage manager, Janet Carroll (with half her make-up off), Ortho Christensen, seminary teacher, Lenore Slaugh, Jack Crofts, Margie Heaton, makeup artist. Front l to r, Jeanette Esplin, Neil Reese, Georgia Troy, Lee Cornell Chamberlain, Annie Gardner, Jim Maxwell, Victor Blackburn.  Picture taken on stage in Ward Hall.

 They say that one time Clark Gable came in the back door, which was the only door as the stage was in the front, and someone asked him to leave because he was smoking.  When they were going to tear the old pioneer building down, it was Edith Dixon, Maynard Dixon’s wife, and some of the Hollywood stars who protested.  They thought it was a national treasure and should be preserved.     

In one variety show, when we raising money to build a new church with a cultural hall, my friends and I put on a skit to add to the fun of the evening.  We were just juniors and seniors in high school but we had formed an Old Maids Club because some of the most popular kids in our classes were already married and had babies.  For this production, we called ourselves the Mormonettes.

Swaying, kicking, and singing (couldn’t really call it dancing--or singing, for that matter) to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, we belted out:

Our eyes have seen the passing

of the Orderville Ward Hall

It is slowing falling down until

there’s nothing left at all.

The windowpanes are broken

And the dance floor is too small

WE NEED A NEW WARD HALL.

Glory, glory Hallelujah,

Glory, glory Hallelujah,

Glory, glory Hallelujah,

we need a new Ward Hall!

Many, many years ago

our fathers built this hall

They built it out of lumber

not expecting it to fall

But now the years have past and gone

it’s crumbling away

WE NEED A NEW WARD HALL

And now we need to have a place

in which to have our fun,

A place to laugh and sing and dance

and meet with everyone.

The building fund is growing

but it’s barely just begun—

WE NEED A NEW WARD HALL

Come on, come on everyone

let’s have a new ward hall

Let’s all work together

so we can start it in the fall

As members of this faithful ward

Let’s all heed this one call

WE NEED A NEW WARD HALL.

We shouted after the audience joined in for the last chorus.  WE’LL GET A NEW WARD HALL

(We didn’t understand then that it was a grand old historical building and should have been preserved.)
Some  years, after Santa came to the Ward Hall to pass out treats to all the children, he would visit each home, especially if a child were sick and/or homebound.  We were thrilled to our bones when we heard a knock on the door and upon opening it saw Ole Santa standing  there!--except the smallest child would sometimes be scared and cry.

As we chatted in bed that night after our Ward Christmas party, I told DeRay that I want Santa Claus to conduct at my funeral.  It seems only fair; since the Bishop took over Santa’s job. 

*****HISTORY*****

These next two sketches are scanned from a book called "Our Pioneer Friends" 1944 by Jeanette Esplin.  I would have been 8 years old; in 3rd grade.

Orderville Ward Hall.  The Ward Hall was built in 1900 and finished by the 4th of July.  It was built by donation.  The ward Hall didn't have a dollar to start with.  The men worked in the sawmill to get the lumber for the hall.  Jonathan Heaton laid the foundation.  Bishop Henry Esplin, Charles W. Carroll and Jonathan Heaton donated the doors and windows.

Orderville Ward Church Meeting House.  In 1890, Henry W. Esplin, Jonathan Heaton and F. L. Porter were appointed as a committee to make plans for a new meeting house.  Some drafts were made, but nothing more was done until January 13, 1893.  Jonathan Heaton acted as general overseer and Ruben Jensen as head Carpenter.  On December 17, 1901, it was dedicated by Apostle Abraham A. Woodruff.  The building was 22x84 feet and cost $2,000.  In 1932 Bishop Edward Carroll had the churchhouse rebuilt.  Later Rulon Carroll had it remodled.
     Jonathan Heaton is my grandpa.  Henry Esplin is my great uncle on my dad's side and and Charles Carroll is my great uncle on my mother's side.

   

    
Grandpa John James Esplin built this house in 1901.  Photo taken in 2011.  (Mama would have been ashamed of the yard.) The Ward Hall built at the same time was torn down over 60 years ago.

 This is the way the house looked when my seven brothers and sisters and I grew up in it. Did we for a minute think "it was crumbling away" and needed to be torn down?

 An earlier photo of John J. Esplin home.  Built in1901.

SoundBite

I didn’t know

how trapped I felt

until I found an escape.

For single-sided deafness

For the first time ever,

a devise that uses your teeth to change the way you hear.

Completely removable.

No surgery.

Clinically proven to work.

SoundBite™ Hearing System from Sonitus Medical is the world's first non-surgical and removable hearing solution to use the well-established principle of bone conduction to imperceptibly transmit sound via the teeth.

The price is not prohibitive

In fact, for hearing devices,

it is downright cheap.

Around $1,500.

But the best part is,

the only doctor who does it in Utah

is the doctor I've been going to for the tumor

that robbed me of my hearing

and who again next year

will be included on my insurance!

I was not only elated for myself

but also for our 16-year-old grandson

who is deaf in one ear.

He has his whole life in front of him.

Even though there is no doctor

in Missouri who handles the devise,

I had visions of him coming out next summer

and being fitted for one.

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

As sometimes happens in life,

the euphoria was short-lived.
Neither Jonathan nor I qualify.
Jonathan, because he's too young.

You have to be 18.
Me, because the hearing

in my left ear isn't good enough.
There you go.
It was fun while it lasted!

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Saturday we went to the musical version of A Christmas Carol at Pioneer Memorial Theater.  It was not morose or scary but highly entertaining; somehow retaining the crucial message.

"A merry Christmas, uncle!  God save you!" cried a cheerful voice.  It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.

"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!"

He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.

"Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew.  "You don't mean that, I am sure."

"I do," said Scrooge.  "Merry Christmas!  What right have you to be merry?  What reason have you to be merry?  You're poor enough."

"Come, then," returned the nephew gaily.  "What right have you to be dismal?  What reason have you to be morose?  You're rich enough."

Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said "Bah!" again; and followed it up with "Humbug."

"Don't be cross, uncle!" said the nephew.

"What else can I be," returned the uncle, "when I live in such a world of fools as this?  Merry Christmas!  Out upon merry Christmas!  What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you?  If I could work my will," said Scrooge indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.  He should!"

"Uncle!" pleaded the nephew.

"Nephew!" returned the uncle, sternly, "keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine."

"Keep it!" repeated Scrooge's nephew.  "But you don't keep it."

"Let me leave it alone, then," said Scrooge.  "Much good may it do you!  Much good it has ever done you!"

"There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say," returned the nephew.  "Christmas among the rest.  But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.  And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!". . .

This lunatic, in letting Scrooge's nephew out, had let two other people in.  They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge's office.  They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him. . .

"At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.  Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?"  demanded Scrooge.  "Are they still in operation?"

"They are.  Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?"  said Scrooge.

"Both very busy, sir."

"Oh!  I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge.  "I'm very glad to hear it."

"Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude," returned the gentleman, "a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink and means of warmth.  We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices.  What shall I put you down for?"

"Nothing!" Scrooge replied.

"You wish to be anonymous?"

"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge.  "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer.  I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry.  I help to support the establishments I have mentioned -- they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there."

"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.  Besides -- excuse me -- I don't know that."

"But you might know it," observed the gentleman.

"It's not my business," Scrooge returned.  "It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's.  Mine occupies me constantly.  Good afternoon, gentlemen!"

Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue their point, the gentlemen withdrew.  Scrooge returned his labours with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him.

At length the hour of shutting up the countinghouse arrived.  With an ill-will Scrooge dismounted from his stool, and tacitly admitted the fact to the expectant clerk in the Tank, who instantly snuffed his candle out, and put on his hat.

"You'll want all day to-morrow, I suppose?" said Scrooge.

"If quite convenient, sir."

"It's not convenient," said Scrooge, "and it's not fair.  If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you'd think yourself ill-used, I'll be bound?"

The clerk smiled faintly.

"And yet," said Scrooge, "you don't think me ill-used, when I pay a day's wages for no work."

The clerk observed that it was only once a year.

"A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December!" said Scrooge, buttoning his great-coat to the chin.  "But I suppose you must have the whole day.  Be here all the earlier next morning."

Ebenezer's disregard for the plight of the people awakened in me a recent memory of when someone attacked half of our nation’s population, in Scrooge-like disdain, for being losers, leeches, and moochers. 

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what.  All right?  There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.  That that's an entitlement, and that government should give it to them.  These are people who pay no income tax.  Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax.  So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. . .and so my job is not to worry about those people.  I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." 

He also opposed the use of mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions to deal with global warming.  He supported the Patriot Act, continued operation of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and use of enhanced interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists.

 Here are some facts: 

1) Most of 47 percent of Americans who aren't paying income taxes don't get away tax free: Nearly two-thirds pay payroll taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.

2) Of that smaller group that pays no income taxes or payroll taxes, more than half are elderly -- and over a third are low-income, earning less than $20,000 a year, according to the Tax Policy Center.

3) Finally, as New York Times columnist David Brooks pointed out that people who rely on government funding are a diverse group of stakeholders, including everyone from veterans receiving health care from the V.A. to students receiving college loans. It's not just the poor and elderly. 

Is it possible that more than 150 years after Charles Dickens wrote The Christmas Carol some of us seriously need to join Ebenezer Scrooge on his journey through space and time to land in the fiery hearth of redemption through the spirit of Christmas?

*****

Did someone else see what I saw?  Of course, I saw the Ghost of Christmas Past and he's looking at the Ghost of Christmas Future.  Letter to the editor:

Scrooge and GOP

Published: December 7, 2012 01:01AM  Salt Lake Tribune

My wife and I went to “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” at Pioneer Theater. It is especially appropriate this year. Ebenezer Scrooge had plenty of solutions for the poor, hungry, sick, destitute and homeless — workhouses and poor farms. He even suggested the poor could solve the problem themselves — by dying. Evidently, he hadn’t thought of self-deportation or he surely would have included that.

Today’s Republicans are doing their best to convince the masses they have changed their ways and should be returned to power. After seeing his three ghosts (of the past, the present and the future), Scrooge didn’t just give lip service and empty promises to change, he actually gave a Christmas turkey to Tiny Tim and his family. Makes one wonder what the Republicans will do after having seen their own ghost of elections yet to come.

We highly recommend the play. The sets are great, and the talent as good as any theater.

Wayne Bickley

Sandy