One of my choir pals is a flight attendant, and I got this note from him yesterday, written after he read our earlier discussion of holiday gifts. Do you have a sweet holiday gift story to share?

Airlines fly on all holidays and Christmas is one of them. Last year, I had done 4 flights out of Minneapolis on Christmas day. My last flight of the night had me going to St Cloud, MN. This passenger asked me where I was from and if I were going to see my family for the holiday. I replied “no ma’am, I am flying 3 more days and tonight I am here in St Cloud and I live in Memphis.” She handed me a card that was addressed “My Flight Crew”. When I opened it …

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Something amazing happened to my friend Wendy a few years ago.

She got sick, really sick. Her voice left her, and she ran a fever. She felt awful. But here’s the amazing thing: She actually stayed home from work. For more than one day, until she got over it.

Click here to read the rest of the column. How do you really relax over the holidays? Does your vacation really feel like a vacation?

Memphis Symphony Orchestra associate conductor Vincent Danner had just begun to wear his hair in dreadlocks when he came to a September rehearsal. A musician saw him and joked out of Danner’s earshot, “Oh look, there’s Buckwheat!”

That same evening, Danner was shocked when another musician told him he looked like a golliwog doll, a 19th century pitch-black caricature of a minstrel, with mounds of unkempt hair, bulging white eyes and protruding red lips.

Two weeks later, yet another musician assumed he’d like to hear a Buckwheat joke just before rehearsal, much to Danner’s disgust.

But just as painful was this: None of the orchestra members who heard these racially disparaging comments confronted the offenders.

Click here to read the rest of Wendi’s column, and add your thoughts about it commenting below.

We heard late yesterday that the Salvation Army has 75 children who have not yet been adopted by way of the Angel Tree program this year. That means all of those babies literally won’t have any Christmas presents at all — their moms are struggling, in recovery, homeless, trying to keep body and soul together. But you can help: Go to Oak Court Mall, Carrefour or Wolfchase and pick up a name TODAY; then choose their gifts and bring them back by the end of the day tomorrow.

Yes, there’s a lot going on right now and yes, you’ve already set aside Christmas money for your family and friends. But can’t we help out just a little more? Doesn’t every kid deserve a little Christmas?

Got this by e-mail — can we give her some help?

Hi Divas! I need some advice. I am the manager and part owner of a company founded and owned by my father. There is an employee who seems to have a problem with me. She has accused me of sabotaging her computer, thrown paperwork on my desk etc. I sent her home one day for this action, and since that time she does not speak, which doesn’t bother me. Whenever someone calls the office and I am on another line, she will not tell me I have a call holding. Once upon a time she would write notes and give them to my father, but he stopped accepting her notes. I consider it funny, that a grown woman, a grandmother, could be so childish. Many people have advised me that it is jealousy. She has stated before that she doesn’t have to work there, she can get a job, and she will not work where she isn’t happy. However, contrary to all of her talk, she is still there two years later.
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