You might be broke for the holidays if …

1. you think Ebenezer Scrooge is a great role model.

2. the cashier at Wal-Mart begins to laugh hysterically after you swipe a credit card that you thought might have a little credit left on it to pay for your purchase.

3. you decide that friends and family members really would prefer a homemade present from you even though you’ve never made anything homemade in your life.

4. you ignore the Salvation Army bell-ringer and use your pocket change to play the lottery.

5. you raid your closet to find unused gifts from last year that you can wrap as presents this year.

6. you undercut prices of the kid down the street to grab market share in the snow shoveling business in your neighborhood.

7. you show up at your rich cousin’s house for Thanksgiving and stay through New Year’s Day.

8. you volunteer to help at a soup kitchen so you can take your spouse out for dinner.

9. you go Christmas caroling in your neighborhood and carry a very large tip jar.

10. you head downtown to look for beggars you can borrow money from.

11. you decide on a fresh-cut Christmas tree this year … and it’s the tree that used to be in your next door neighbor’s backyard.

12. you announce that hors d’ oeuvres for the party at your house will be served in the food section at Sam’s Club.

Okay, being broke for the holidays really isn’t funny and is certainly no laughing matter if you are the one impacted by it. On the other hand, everyone knows that Americans are too materialistic in general and put way too much emphasis on spending money to make the holidays jolly. We also suspect this is going to be a much leaner holiday season for millions.

So this might be the year a number of individuals and families change their priorities and spending habits for the Christmas season out of necessity – and find themselves richer for the experience. That same individual or family will hopefully be reminded of the importance of generosity and giving in future years when they have plenty because they’ll remember what it feels like to be without and be much more aware of the needy around them.
Whether broke or rolling dough this year. just remember that the ho ho ho that springs from a generous always sounds better than bah humbug heard from a miserly heart!

So how do you plan to spend the holidays?

The planned airing of a game show in which a terminally ill woman will choose someone to receive her kidneys has stirred up controversy in the Netherlands and caused outrage internationally.

I don’t know what’s creepier, the Big Donor Show referenced above – or Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Do I really want to see how a member of KISS raises his children?

Long before Survivor, Dancing With the Stars, The Biggest Loser, The Apprentice, American Idol, The Bachelor, Temptation Island, Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire, Fear Factor, Extreme Makover, The Osbournes, and a host of other reality TV shows, reality TV was already at the forefront of popular culture as introduced by the television medium.

Of course there were game shows. No, life is not lived in the tic-tac-toe world of Hollywood Squares, nor the harsh and sterile electronic set of The Weakest Link, but outside of a few controversies, the competition has been real, so they qualify as Reality TV. But game shows, popular as they are, aren’t the ultimate form of reality TV. Not even close.

If you need a clue, I’ll point out that you’ve probably been watching reality TV for a couple of days and will continue to do so for a couple more weeks. (And if you’re not, maybe you should be!) I’m not just referring to the Olympics but to sports in general. Sports on TV has been an enduring success from Friday Night Boxing to the Little League World Series to the NFL and that strange little experiment of an all sports network called ESPN that has multiplied itself into at least 15 television networks, 10 internet networks, and another 3 radio networks.

What defines reality TV?

1. unscripted – at least not completely scripted
2. real events
3. an uncertain outcome

Sure, reality TV manufactures outrageous and sometimes highly abnormal situations and locations to create voyeur … I mean viewer interest, but what makes them universally appealing is that the participant’s actions and emotions determine the outcome.

What has been more compelling than sports? And the Olympics have often been the greatest stage of all.

Jesse Owens winning four gold medals in front of the Fuhrer, refuting the notion of Aryan Supremacy … Mark Spitz not just swimming to 7 gold medals, but breaking 7 world records … Al Michaels shouting, “Do you believe in miracles?” as a team of no-name kids repelled Russia’s Big Red Machine in hockey …

Not all the stories have ended the way “we” wanted them to. But that’s the point. The catchphrase of the long running ABC Wild World of Sports said it all: the thrill of victory … the agony of defeat. What’s more real than that? That’s reality even without the TV!