Many hunters pride themselves on their outdoor skills and detailed knowledge of their quarry. Yet, in today's joystick-driven, attention deficit-oriented world, the intrinsic, cerebral, physical and spiritual components of hunting just seem to take too much effort.

This "Desperate Housewives" demographic, dominated by pro-growth urbanites or suburbanites, often claims it wants to preserve "open space" or "green space." Sadly, this frequently is a euphemism for rollerblading trails and places where their doggies can poop unencumbered; not "wild spaces" where hunters stalk the creeks and wildlife is truly wild.

I'm thankful for big tracts of woods and places where traffic's din is faint, if heard at all; thankful for places where stars in the night sky shine brightly without need for the glare of artificial lights designed to further commerce, convenience or security.

As with all good New Englanders, your solemn duty was to love the Boston Red Sox.

Right now, many thousands of our fellow countrymen and women are serving in faraway and often hostile lands. We'll see television coverage of them enjoying the company of their fellow service members and a special Christmas dinner in a chow hall. What they wouldn't give to be where you and your neighbors will likely be this week, sharing this season of giving at home with loved ones. Especially for them, we wish,--no, pray, "Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men."

Camping has become one of my most beloved pastimes. I take a fierce delight in swinging a pak o my back or into a canoe and heading for the hills or lakes. In my opinion, camping can be the greatest expression of free will, personal independence, innate ability, and resourcefulness possible today in our industrialized, urbanized existence. Regardless of how miserable or how splendid the circumstances, the sheer experience of camping seems a total justification for doing it.