Paul Barrette
Bedford

The Day After Christmas
by Lorraine Metivier

'Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house
There was wall to wall mess, no place for a mouse
The new toys are scattered, in every which way
Trains, dolls and games, just everything to play
The stockings that were hung by the chimney with care
Are now on the floor and full of dog hair
The dear little children, from short ones to tall
This day after Christmas, are fed Pepto-Bismol
For their tummies are stuffed, with all kinds of things
Like candy and peanuts and pineapple rings
The children are cranky, from not enough sleep
They fight over toys, two boys and one Jeep?
Timmy can't find the wheels from his small model car
How on earth did they get in the baby's food jar?
Sis is still crying, her eyes are all red
Our puppy has chewed off her Barbie doll's head
Poor Mom is trying, with vacuum and broom,
To organize the house, or at least just one room
And Dad with his tools, grunts and just trembles
He gets madder and madder, with each toy he assembles
Just when Mom and Dad try to sit down and relax
Here comes more company, Aunt Flo and Uncle Max
Dad has a drink with them, just to be polite
Like he did with the others, it's his tenth drink tonight
Poor Dad has a headache, his eyes are all red
He sure looks funny with the lampshade on his head
They all settle down, from puppy to Dad
The children thank the Lord for the Christmas they had
'Twas the day after Christmas, in their beds they all lay
They must get their rest, to face New Year's day

We may not be able to defend our country against evil as effectively as we did in the past. Just as the Boy Scouts' motto requires them to be prepared as individuals, we too should follow suit.

Remember, there will be no warning. Your decision will dictate your eternal destination.

I've chosen the way of the Lord my God.

Jim Breagy
Epsom
(This letter is being rerun due to a typesetting error.)

My son is one of the policemen standing at the gate of freedom and serving our country and you well in the Navy. In his 20 years of service with the United States Navy, he has been gone several Christmases to assure your safety.

No one likes war, but I disagree with Cindy Sheehan and her assault on our president - she is degrading the sacrifice her son made for his country.

No one wants to lose their loved one in war, but it is a volunteer action that one must take today, and war is hell.

My husband is a World War II veteran, and he was drafted at 17. He lost a full scholarship to Manhattan College because of World War II.

Prior to meeting my husband, I was engaged to a captain in the Air Force. The draft was still in effect back than, so directly out of high school, he joined the Air Force. In 1959, he was shot down in Vietnam - it was not called a war back then. It was referred to as a police action. His name is on the Vietnam wall (1959) in Washington.

I will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and celebrate very vocally and I will not allow myself to divert me from the fact it is the birth of Christ. I believe God gave his only son for our sins.

We stopped giving Christmas gifts when my son was 5 years old, and he is 43 today. I sat him down and explained what Christmas was all about, and it was not Santa Claus.

Instead of gouging ourselves with gifts, we would have exchange Jan. 2, from 1967 we adopted a family that was less fortunate than we. My family does not get depressed because someone did not get an expensive or useless gift. Our gift is going to church, partaking of a wonderful meal and enjoying the family that we sup with that year.

My son was in the first Gulf War and he was gone for nine months. 1990/91 was my first encounter with a son being in harm's way. I was at a council meeting the night the bombing of Baghdad started. I was on the sewer commission then and the commissioners were presenting their budget to the council. Bill Jackson, who was a council member than, came from the secretary's office during our budget presentation and announced we were bombing Baghdad. I was standing up making the budget presentation. I had to sit down and I felt as if someone hit me in the stomach. Then I asked the council if I may leave, I could not go on. My son had been in the Navy only four years in 1990 and he was in the middle of a war.

If this makes any sense in 2005, I am a little more acclimated to my son heading off to war zones. My belief that men and women lost in the war now sit at the right hand of God. That belief gives me the comfort I need to be a Navy mother.

Enjoy Christmas however you celebrate it.

Pat Rueppel
Hooksett

The tradition of giving gifts honors one of the greatest commands; loving one another without condition. Santa doesn't give only to perfect children. God's gift to us is his Holy Spirit, who provides us the power, protection and counsel needed to live. Many who appear to be holy and kind will not be in heaven, because they seek the approval of men and their reward is here.

All who call on Jesus will be saved, but how can you call on the one you do not know?

Read the Bible. He is "the word of God" and will be found if you seek him. He is actually waiting for you. Finding Jesus is a personal quest that no one can make for you. If you search his word and pray, his spirit will guide you. Trusting too much in another person's wisdom is foolish. The Lord uses people, but so does Satan. Do your own homework and pray your own prayers.

Finding Jesus is not a destination, it is a task. That is how it is written, in many ways; follow, seek, knock, call, carry, convince, rebuke, exhort, love, etc. They are all verbs, action words. The destination is heaven, but "the way is narrow." The enemy is never sleeping and always on the prowl, "seeking whom he may devour." That is why I cannot tolerate his lies whenever they appear. To deny the truth; "In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth," the very first sentence, is to deny Jesus.

Don't be devoured. Declare and defend your faith. Jesus said if you deny him before men, he will deny you before the Father. Look it up, please! Give Jesus Christ the present he wants this Christmas, your heart!

David Ross
Hooksett

P.S. We need to pray for Charles Beward, because he is apparently deceived and in denial, but not without hope. His overt frustration is evidence of a conscience under conviction, which means the spirit is at work in him. A qualified librarian assisted me, "authors not found." The Catholic church believes in creationism. The Bible does not give the Earth an age of 6,000 years. Perpetual motion is impossible. The universe is an isolated system. It was created and then put into motion by an outside force; the word of God. Uni-verse: oneword.

In the same paragraph that he makes this claim, he implies that the murders to which he is refering are something he terms "surgical abortions." The full implication in his paragraph is that almost one-third of pregnancies end in "surgical abortions," and this is simply not true.

The average woman in the United States has approximately two offspring, and far fewer than one-third of these women have had "surgical abortions." It may be possible for women to verify this claim by asking many of their women relatives and women friends if those relatives and friends have ever had an abortion. It is possible that in most cases, their answer will be no because far fewer than one-third of their pregnancies have been terminated by "surgical abortions."

If the numerical claims of Mr. Ross can be found to be false by anyone able to obtain the evidence for themselves, the letter attributed to Mr. Ross can be rejected on this basis alone.

Refering to his erroneous numerical claims, Mr. Ross states, "It makes Hitler look merciful." This is a horrific claim.

Far fewer than one-third of pregnancies are terminated by "surgical abortions," and Mr. Ross uses hopelessly false numbers to support the horrific claim I have quoted from your publication. His letter must be rejected on this basis by anyone able to obtain countervailing evidence on their own.

It must be stated for the record that the demand for "surgical abortions" arises almost exclusively from women who have been raped (and all cases of incest are also cases of rape). In the United States, almost no woman who has not been raped desires to have "surgical abortions" at any time. Women who ask good relatives and friends about unplanned pregnancies may possibly find evidence to support these claims. Unplanned pregnancies that are not the result of rape are almost never terminated by "surgical abortions," and these facts might be confirmed by close relatives and friends if they have been involved in unplanned pregnancies.

One of Planned Parenthood's goals is to ensure that women who have been raped are able to safely terminate their pregnancies if they do not wish to have a child conceived in rape. Anyone willing and able to obtain for themselves the evidence about the demand for "surgical abortions" should reject the claims of Mr. Ross concerning Planned Parenthood based upon this evidence.

In any event, I fully support the right of women to choose for themselves whether a pregnancy should be terminated.

False information is used by Mr. Ross to support horrific claims. His letter should be rejected for simply this reason.

Keith A. Tuson
Hooksett