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Just a passing thought. Isn’t it interesting that we say happy birthday to George Washington, Columbus, Robert E. Lee, Martin Luther King, etc., as we celebrate their birth dates, but we say merry Christmas when we refer to the day honoring Christ’s birthday? However, what we say is not as important as what we feel inside our hearts as we celebrate. What is important is that we celebrate his birth for the right reason.

Isn’t it also grand that more people are now saying merry Christmas again? Over the past decade or two, because of political correctness, it became unpopular to utter the words merry Christmas. Stores that make most of their profit during the Christmas buying season seemed to be afraid to use those words. Instead, they wished everyone happy holidays. Schools stopped calling the days off around December Christmas. Instead, they started referring to this period as the winter break. All this is very interesting because I have friends of other religions who are not offended in the slightest by those of us who choose to say merry Christmas; with full knowledge that our purpose for the celebration is for Christ’s birthday.

TAKE TIME TO RELAX AND REFLECT

This time of year, all of us are running around trying to accomplish things. Sometimes it is decorating and buying gifts, other times it is planning and preparing meals. Sometimes it is work related. Things that must be accomplished before the year-end knowing that other workers or businesses are working shorter schedules for the last days before Christmas and new year’s pushes those deadlines earlier and earlier than we had planned. However, think about what is truly important. It is not the perfect decorations or meals but rather the loved ones that we want to enjoy being around. Don’t work yourself into frenzy so that you cannot enjoy your time with them.

I cannot easily heed my own advice. My schedule gets more and more hectic each and every year. Because so many meetings have been occurring the last several weeks, I have had some who were critical of me because I was not at this or that meeting that they thought I should have attended. However, as large as this senate district is, it is impossible to be everywhere at the same time. This week, I am stopping to enjoy my family and my relationship with my savior.

GOVERNOR’S BUDGET

The Governor released his budget. I will not get into the nuts and bolts of his spending plan until after Christmas, but rest assured there will be plenty to talk about. There will something in his budget to please all and, at the same time, to offend all. Next week, I will share my thoughts on some of his planned spending. Or I should say spending and spending plan.

In his presentation, he pointed out that Virginia’s economy is doing very well. We will have almost record breaking revenue this year, however, he explained that is not enough to satisfy his spending wishes. He, therefore, proposed several new taxes on you that will bring in hundreds of millions of extra money to spend.

Again, this is an issue that all of us can stew on in the coming weeks. Right now, please relax and give your loved ones an extra hug.

Merry Christmas and happy birthday!

Frank Ruff Jr. represents Lunenburg in the state Senate. His email address is Sen.Ruff@verizon.net.