And to all a good night

I know what I could do today.

I could write about the Colts, and what a splendid job they're doing of staying the course toward as high a draft pick as possible.

I could write about how, um, interesting it is that everyone freaks when an African-American father pulls his kid out of school and sends him thousands of miles away to learn how to be a professional basketball player, but no one thinks it odd when white parents pull their kids out of school and send them thousands of miles away to learn how to be professional tennis players (or figure skaters, or gymnasts, etc., etc.)

I could write about why it is Brian Kelly can't seem to keep his kids out of trouble when they're not playing football games.

And of course I could write about whether or not suspending them for the Citrus Bowl is all that much a sacrifice for Notre Dame, seeing as how the Citrus Bowl (and every other bowl but two) is nothing but an exhibition game, anyway.

I will not write about any of that today, however.

It's Christmas Eve. And so I leave you with this, from Charles Dickens, who captures the prevailing sentiment far better than I ever could:

"Again the Ghost sped on, above the black and heaving sea -- on, on -- until, being far away, as he told Scrooge, from any shore, they lighted on a ship. They stood beside the helmsman at the wheel, the look-out in the bow, the officers who had the watch; dark, ghostly figures in their several stations; but every man among them hummed a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or spoke below his breath to his companion of some bygone Christmas Day, with homeward hopes belonging to it. And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in the year; and had shared to some extent in its festivities; and had remembered those he cared for at a distance, and had known that they delighted to remember him."

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and happy holidays to those who do not. Now go forth and make merry. That is an order.