I was doing a little research online about a place called Christmas Island, and I discovered there are two islands by that name. One is in the Indian Ocean, south of Indonesia; it's only about 52 square miles. The other island by the same name is in the Pacific, just north of the equator. It's just 125 square miles, and was used as the site of an H-bomb test 50 years ago.

It occurred to me that Christmas is always an island. It's an island of hope in a world of despair. An island of love in a world of indifference. An island of peace in a world of... (Continued)