Christmas Eve! And tomorrow's the big day. Seems to come faster every year, doesn't it? Well, you're ready for it!

The shopping's done -- the frantic searching for just the right gift for each loved one, the desperate last minute search through sadly depleted stocks for something special for that person you'd forgotten to add to your list -- and the gifts are all wrapped.

The stack of Christmas cards is gone. Notes enclosed, they're in the mail. Well, most of them are in the mail! You just haven't had time to do those last few. Because you'd planned to enclose really long letters, they kept getting shuffled back to be done last.

You feel guilty, but you'll do them the first thing the day after Christmas. Maybe they won't mind getting them late.

Or maybe you should just send a New Year's card instead. That way you'll have more time to work on their letters.

Plans have been made for tomorrow and everything's under control.

You throw some Christmas music on the player, pour yourself a steaming cup of coffee -- or perhaps you mix a drink (you could sure use one!) -- kick off your shoes and sit back to relax.

It's really been hard this year! Next year you'll start earlier and maybe you'll not be so tired out. You're really glad you decided not to bother with a tree this year. That surely would have been too much!

It's been such a hassle this year. Seems every year gets worse. People push and shove; they're nasty and ill-tempered. Doesn't seem to be much Christmas spirit anymore.

And the stores no longer play carols while you shop. Used to be so nice, shopping at Christmastime. Not anymore!

You really are tired. Well, you deserve a little peace and quiet before tomorrow, so you'll just settle down for a nice, quiet evening in. Just get through tomorrow and it's all over for another year!

Your disc is playing "Silent Night." You don't hear that much these days. You'd almost forgotten how beautiful it is . . . .

Yes, Christmas Eve comes right on schedule every year. But, somewhere down through the years, in the process of commercialization it has lost a lot of its beauty and its magic. Times have changed and, sadly, laws have been changed, stripping away even more of its beauty and its magic.

We are losing the true meaning of Christmas and far too many of us are wont to breathe a sigh of relief that it is over at last.

The Christmas of today is so far removed from those Christmases of seven or eight decades ago that they seem to have been in another world, another time.