The Ten Top New Years Resolutions for 2010
Every year it seems that the same Top Ten New Year resolutions crop up. Why? It’s obvious. Because they are just so hard to keep! I have trouble keeping my resolutions, but this time I’m determined to finally do better.
Success is not an accident, it begins with a well-conceived plan. You can and will achieve more in the next year than you have in the past ten with a disciplined plan of action. By investing your efforts into a New Years Resolution, you give yourself a launch pad for starting your new year and your new life.
This year I’m determined to try harder and I plan to succeed. The only two resolutions listed below that I was able to keep in 2009, were to organise myself and to get more exercise.At least I made a great improvement over my 2008 attempts. As for smoking, I hope that you have better luck than I do!
My list includes many of the items listed below, but this Lens is not about my New Years Resolutions, but the Top Ten Resolutions. Here’s the list.
- 1. Stop smoking
- 2. Get Fit
- 3. Lose Weight
- 4. Enjoy Life More
- 5. Quit Drinking
- 6. Get Organised
- 7. Learn Something New
- 8. Get Out of Debt
- 9. Spend more time with the Family
- 10. Help Others
So, that’s the Top Ten New Years Resolutions. Write them down and see how successful you are at keeping them. I hope that you have more success than I’ve had in my resolutions over the years. Happy New Year!
Top Ten: Christmas Quotes
Christmas creates a happy and pleasant atmosphere for most people, but the Christmas atmosphere can be hard to describe in words. Here you have a series of great quotes about Christmas phrased by famous people.
1. Agnes M. Pharo
What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.
2. Carol Nelson
Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you’re home.
3. Helen Keller
The only blind person at Christmastime is he who has not Christmas in his heart.
4. Harlan Miller
Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.
5. Shirley Temple
I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.
Shirley Temple
6. Norman Vincent Peale
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
7. Mary Ellen Chase
Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.
8. W.J. Cameron
There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries.
9. Larry Wilde
Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.
10. Charles Dickens
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
The Chicago-based Montgomery Ward company, department store operators, had been purchasing and distributing children’s coloring books as Christmas gifts for their customers for several years. In 1939, Montgomery Ward tapped one of their own employees to create a book for them, thus saving money. 34-year old copywriter Robert L. May wrote the story of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer in 1939, and 2.4 million copies were handed out that year. Despite the wartime paper shortage, over 6 million copies had been distributed by 1946.
May drew in part on the story “The Ugly Duckling” and in part from his own experiences as an often taunted, small, frail youth to create the story of the misfit reindeer. Though Rollo and Reginald were considered, May settled on Rudolph as his reindeer’s name.
Writing in verse as a series of rhyming couplets, May tested the story as he went along on his 4-year old daughter Barbara, who loved the story
Sadly, Robert Mays wife died around the time he was creating Rudolph, leaving Mays deeply in debt due to medical bills. However, he was able to persuade Sewell Avery, Montgomery Ward’s corporate president, to turn the copyright over to him in January 1947, thus ensuring May’s financial security.
May’s story “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was printed commercially in 1947 and in 1948 a nine-minute cartoon of the story was shown in theaters. When May’s brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, wrote the lyrics and melody for the song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, the Rudolph phenomenon was born. Turned down by many musical artists afraid to contend with the legend of Santa Claus, the song was recorded by Gene Autry in 1949 at the urging of Autry’s wife. The song sold two million copies that year, going on to become one of the best-selling songs of all time, second only to Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”. The 1964 television special about Rudolph, narrated by Burl Ives, remains a holiday favorite to this day and Rudolph himself has become a much-loved Christmas icon.