"On this Christmas morn, we wish for a gleaming sparkle in the eyes of every child and a warm feeling of happiness as the heart of every dault . . . . This is a very special time of the year that imbues us with a sense of true objectiveity . . . . During the year, too many of us are guilty of living within the confines of our own thoughts and our own daily routine. During this glorious season, the cobwebs of discuse are joyfully evicted to make way for the inclusion of all the lovely perople who form the pattern of our love and devotion . . . . As you are making a final check of your holiday gift list, remember it isn't necessary to make a trip to the finance company. If you cannot really afford the gifts you would like to present your loved ones and friends, try giving of yourself. This offering means much more than a tinseled parcel. A gift of the heart is never forgotten. Discard the teachings of sophistication and sahre the true holiday spirit . . . . Happy, indeed, are they who give of themselves throughout the entire year, for their lives are enriched, full and compelte . . . . When you see that angel smile from the top of your ornamented tree, you'll know you are among the fortunates who know the true meaning of Christmas. . . . and that's for sure."

"I LOVE Christmas, not as a woman loves a man, but with all of the faith and belief and joy of childhood dazzlingly enshrined in wonderful memories.

The Christmas I loved as a little child, I still love and I shall continue to love forevermore. That's the magic - simple and true - turning back in retrospect and seeing, feeling, hearing, living it all again - last year's Yule and the years before.

The many joys that have fashioned this enthusiasm visit with me and I find new delights in the remembering 'when'. Surely, the power of memory and love is God's great gift - for it is freely ours to turn on at will, like a movie. All you have to do is to relax like a kitten and contemplate.

This was my thinking as the plane took from the Los Angeles International Airport, flew East, passed over the panorama of flashing jewels that is Las Vegas and then swooped drown gracefully to alight at the Salt Lake Airport. There I rented a car for the short drive home, home for Christmas.

The snow glistened in the moonlight, encrusted with frosty diamonds, as I knew it would be. The road was a ribbon of moonlight and the gayly decorated houses along the way shone with multi-colored lights and Christmas tree in the windows, waiting for the 'morrow, Tonight. Santa was coming.

On this special Christmas Eve and tomorrow the most special day of the year, the spirits which fashion my very soul visit with me. I see Mama with her blonde hair dressed high in curls and wearing her red velvet hostess gown, wrapping presents at her little cherrywood desk, while the blaze of the hearth fills the room with dancing shadows and firelight. The Christmas tree twinkles and the mysterious packages from all the aunts and uncles are spell-bindingly waiting to be opened on the 'morrow.

Papa comes in, shaking the snow from his great coat with the mink collar and picks up Mama for a kiss and a hug. The radio is playing Christmas carols and Grandmama is sitting in her favorite chair by the fire stroking Fluffy the kitten-kat. It's such a happy, happy home.

Across the drive sets Grandpa's great house where Aunt Martha, Uncle James and my darling Aunt Rae all live. Grandpapa was the city's first police chief, the first mayor who became President Middleton of the Mormon Church. His generosity and kindness caused him to hold open house every Thursday afternoon in his library to give money to the needy. His own money. And he united happy couples in the holy bonds of matrimony. Grandpa had long before gone on to his own particular reward in heaven. As a two year old I still remember in awe - I picked up a piece of coal and threw it down the basement window which managed to hit my revered Grandpapa (then 70 and shortly before his death) on the head and caused Mama at that critical moment to wish I'd never been born.

Grandpapa had crossed the plains as a little boy pioneer to help settle this vast wilderness of Utah. He had married two wives, the two being sisters of Jonathan Browning who invested the Browning machine gun for the first world war, all of which happened (of course) long before I was born.

This big house Grandpapa had built 60 years before and moved into on New Year's Eve is standing sandwiched in between a telephone building and a commercial garage. The big flower gardens which once spread their beauty over half a city block have vanished but the lilac trees and Aunt Rae's rose gardens about the big house still bloom in the summer time and remain in winter, covered with snow - to present the ebb and flow of life itself and its real meaning.

Tonight, as I drive towards it, I see that little girl, M.M. excited, breathless, sleepless, counting the minutes when Santa Claus will come before morning.

Sure enough, Grandpapa's house is decked with Holly wreaths and Aunt Rae answers the door to my ring, and takes me in her arms as her very own. Now there are only the two of us - of all of those who shared so many Christmases here together. We sit by the fire and recall the flavor of the Yule with cherished fondness with neither additions nor alterations. For the pictures, like color slides, are crystal clear on memory lane.

For the good measure I run up the stairs to the third floor and slide down the bannisters, right down to the front reception hall without a hitch. Yes, the bannisters are still strong and sturdy. My handsome bachelor Uncles James must be there saying, 'Now here, someday you'll come down so fast you'll break your neck little girl, if you aren't careful.' And I'm laughing and he gives me a beautiful dutch dolly with real wooden shoes for Christmas!

'Imagine James shopping for dolls,' Mama and Aunt Rae gasp with surprise. But Uncle James, who is beleaguered by all of the marriage-minded-beauties in the city, has always been my protector.

Didn't he come to my aid when I accidentally turned the hose, full-force, on the city's second Beau Brummel (Uncle James being first), the White City's elegant orchestra leader! And when the rows of tulips, pansies and hyacinth had been newly-planted in the spring, bordering the walks of the estate, and that even when it was discovered that each pretty flower had been plucked and carefully laid by the side of the plant - wasn't it my Uncle James who protected me from the threatened and deserved sparking!!!

And (of course in the firelight) I see Mama and Aunt Rae in their Paris gowns leaving for a party and me, wide and starry-eyed, dreaming of the day when I, too, would be grown up, wearing a pink taffeta party gown with shoulder straps and Paris perfume and white mink on my shoulders. And when I was, and did, I walked into meet Uncle President Hebert J. Grant of the Mormon church, staring at me in shock! A good Mormon girl never bares her shoulders. I wanted to crawl into a hole and pull it in after me. 'But, Dear Uncle Hebert J., this was what I grew up for, to wear pretty Paris dresses and perfurme!'

There were the evenings when Mama and Aunt Rae went to the movies to see their favorite stars, Myrna Loy, William Powell, Clara Bow, Wallace Reid and Gloria Swanson. I decided it might be nice to be a movie star, too, except Mama said absolutely no!

And those nights - when every midnight Papa would serenade Mama with his guitar and dreamy records on the phonograph!

It's Christmas morning and Santa has paid his visit. It's such fun opening the presents, exchanging kisses and 'thank yous.' Then, all of the aunts and uncles and cousins come trouping home for a Christmas dinner only Grandmama could contrive, with all of the goodies that congest your soul and tummy too.

Christmas night is spent by the fire with Aunt Martha, Grandmama, Aunt Rae, Mama, Papa, Uncle James and all of the relatives, listening to the grown-up fun, and being called on to recite and impersonate 'Red Riding Hood and the Big Wolf' - not having heard of the Hollywood variety. Aunt Rae, who graduated from dramatic school to become one of the most famous actresses in the city, confined locally, since Grandpapa would never hear of her going to Broadway - imitating Charlie Chaplin, moustache, cane, floppy shoes and all.

And now there are only Aunt Rae and me, for all of the others have passed on. But we don't sit here on Christmas chanting the sorrowful songs of memories. The sadness retreats quickly for the clinging happiness that is ours.

There was the Christmas when little Miss May Mann was so proud to have been voted the Christmas Doll at Grade School. Happily, she waltzed home through Lester Park to meet the non-winning contestants! Instead of congratulating her on her lucky break, they washed her face with snow. The shock of it all - to discover that everybody's not happy for somebody else's little success! The amazement of it all!

There's the Doakas Orpheum Candy store, where Papa bought the great five pound red boxes of chocolates for Christmas, boxes tied with huge red satin bows. And the Orpheum Theater where every Saturday afternoon Papa sent his chauffeured Cadillac to take you to see vaudeville and you sat in the family box feeling like a real princess wearing your Ermine-trimmed velvet coat with matching muff.

And the Yule holidays when you raced down the street in the little miniature toy automobile Papa had the Cadillac Company in Detroit construct especially for you - right across Gandpapa's drive and almost crashing into Papa. And he takes your car and driving privileges away. At six years of age, this is sheer tragedy.

This is the delightful kaleidoscope of memory pictures you can skip through at will, going backward and forward as they enter your head.

There's Aunt Rae who never married when she was young, in spite of all of her popularity, because the man she loved was not a Mormon! And Grandpapa would have none of it. And now comes a tall handsome professor of 50 years from Weber College courting Aunt Rae. And you stand in corners watching this wonderful courtship, the flowers, boxes of candy, poetry and the sweet looks - and all that transpires before your very eyes, right up to the diamond engagement ring. And Aunt Rae gets married. And you sigh and wonder if all of this will ever ever happen to you.

Mama, well Mama didn't marry a Mormon. She married Papa, a look-alike for Tyrone Power, whose family were in the Boston social register. And Papa had come West to seek his fortune and fell in love with Mama. Grandpapa said he'd rather Mama were dead in her casket than to marry 'an outsider.' But Mama was terribly happy with Papa, who showered her with sables and Cadillac cars, and in his haste to amass a fortune died at the age of 34. All of this unreels as we sit this Christmas Eve in the great house Grandpapa built.

Down the street on the entrance of the church is a bronzed plaque naming President Middleton, Grandpapa, as one of the founders of Weber College, along with Bishop David O'McKay now the President of the Mornon church. And you're proud to know that Grandfather made this contribution to the community along with so many more. And you wish you could do something worthwhile, too - to make Grandpapa proud of you.

You drive about the streets - remembering: you see your photograph reproduced six feet to fill the whole photographer's window because you made good in Hollywood. Glen Perrins and Abe Glasmann of the paper had given you the opportunity to do it.

You go by the Old Mill where Mayor Harmon Perry cooked the biggest mackinaw trout, 38 pounds, that Wally Beery helped you catch in Jackson Lake, Wyoming. And when you took the train to Ogden, you were told you had to leave your fish, because you didn't have a permit to take it out of the state! So you wrapped it in ice and in newspapers and put it under a seat at the far end of the train and hoped! And the ice melted and the whole train smelled might fishy as the water trickled down the aisle. And the conductor was about to do something drastic when here was Ogden and you grabbed the fish and jumped off just in time!

And there were the days of starting out as a columnist, when the governor of the state and Mayor Perry all offered you motorcycle police escorts to meet visiting celebrities. And there you were with screaming sirens sitting between the mayor and the governor on your way to meet a Clark Gable or Wally Beery or Leslie Howard or whoever was expected. You were all of 17 and were you thrilled? Yes!!!

There was Mariner S. Eccles who had charge of all of the money of the USA or something like that didn't he? And you were Miss Utah and at the World's Fair, he was your escort and you felt like Cinderella.

And the day you were given the Key to the city and asked to name anything you wanted, for bringing so many stars to Pioneer Days and your dream was to visit Shupe Williams Candy Company! An aspiration since you were six. But it was summer and they weren't making candy that day.

And the day Mayor Perry called and said, 'If you can get Clark Gable to ride in the Pioneer Days Parade, the city will give you a solid white Cadillac'. Clark agreed and Wally Beery came over a day ahead on the agreement that the Mayor would pay his plane expenses. Well, our dear Mayor didn't dream it took a couple of hundred dollars worth of gas to ferry a plane over from Hollywood. And his Honor balked and you had to call Clark, already enroute, and tell him not to ride in the parade. And there went your solid white Cadillac!

And Charley Sherer, Ogden's good-will ambassador, who was always arriving with carloads of 'his thundering herd' to say hello when you had movie star visitors.

So you tell him to keep it a big secret when you next have a celebrity in town. And he offers to give a dinner for said celeb at the Ben Lomond Hotel. You insist that he keep the dinner to four people and you don't reveal the celeb's name, to surprise him.

So you arrive to see not only Charley but the Mayor and the Governor and your boss, the publisher of the paper, and 30 more. And with a blush you announce that the celebrity may not be known from coast to coast, but he's known from town to town in Utah, 'Charley Sherer . . . ' Sigh.

No, Aunt Rae and I are not alone on Christmas - for they are all there - everyone. And the whispers in my heart and the love and generosity of the past, the present and the future all say: Merry Merry Merry Christmas! And that's for sure, as Mr. Jack Cortez Dear says! Yes, Merry Merry Xmas Everybody!!!!"

"Here's my Christmas present to you. One fateful evening way back in 1950 when I was sitting alongside of Jack Cortez on a plane flying into Los Angeles from Las Vegas, he casually asked me to write ONE guest column for his magazine FABULOUS. Just the other day, he asked me if anyone had ever asked me to write a second column, much less the 675, give or take one or two, that I have written since. So my Christmas present to you is a montage of columns contributed by some of my very best friends around the country who are all extremely fine people, and who are living as interesting and as diversified lives as possible. I know you will read them with great interest and find them as informative and as entertaining as I did. You will read every line, I am sure. But before you start I want to wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR.

My first guest columnist is the Very Reverend David G. Suelzer, Order of the Holy Cross. He is a Crosier Father, was born September 19, 1931 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He attended High School and Junior College at Our Lady of the Lake Seminary in Syracuse, Indiana and took his Philosophical and Theological training at Crosier House of Studies in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was ordained a priest on May 25, 1957. Since then he was worked as Association Editor and Business Manager of Today's Family Magazine, and also as a Director of Vocations. On May 31st of this year he was elected the Youngest Prior in the history of the Crosier Order in this country. He now heads the Crosier Seminary at Onamia, Minnesota with 32 priests and 14 brothers working under him teaching 300 students in their high school and junior college. Here is what Father Dave writes about Christmas:"

"Regardless of one's religious persuasion Christmas time is one of joy. Dickens in The Christmas Carol provides us with the perfect antithesis of what this season is meant to be in the creation of the character, Scrooge. In him we find a lack of joy, the peace conveyed by Christmas.

For the Christian, God's gift to man, Jesus Christ, provides the inspiration for this sentiment. For it is the birth of Christ, a gift, which is the prototype of our Christmas giving.

The creche displayed during this season pictures for us the personification of the gift. This is a gift which extends from the crib to the cross. In the Christian dispensation, joy emerges primarily because of this realization. The Redeemer, the Messiah promised by God to our first parents has come. From His chosen people the anticipation has become realization.

With enthusiasm, therefore, we look forward to the celebration of the birth of Christ. The celebration brings out what is best in man, his capacity for love, for charity. In meditating about this great example of the love of God, man responds with his own. The final judgment passed on a man will be the degree of his love, the quality of love.

In an era when real emphasis is being put on charity, as exemplified by the late Pope John and carried on by Pope Paul, Christmas 1963 has an added meaning. It is Christ, our Redeemer, who is the source of love.

This short article on the meaning of Christmas is meant primarily for those in the first of entertainment. In a sense, the spirit of Christmas is a year around occupation, for, I dare to say, joy is your stock in trade. In season and out of season, you are working, providing joy. Regardless of the mood of a given performance, the audience is withdrawn from the routine of daily life into a new perspective.

May the peace and joy of this season radiate in you and through you."

"My second columnist this Christmas is Edward Meck, Publicity Manager of Disneyland. Ed is a very likeable fellow and has been Walt Disney's right hand man for years. He is one of the bussiest men I know and one of the best friends I have. He is a native of Wisconsin, has long been associated with the motion picture industry, and joined the Disney organization several months before the opening of Disneyland in 1955. He has watched it grow into the world's best-known tourist attraction. Always ready with a friendly hand to help newsmen uncover the many fascinating stories in Walt Disney's 'Magic Kingdom' he is known by newspaper, radio and television writers throughout the world. A fine young fellow, Charles Ridgway, had a hand in preparing the following story. He is on the Publicity Staff at Disneyland. Swen Welch, Ed's lovely assistant and secretary also had a hand in it, I am sure. I know you will all enjoy reading 'Christmas at Disneyland' and I am sure you will all want to visit this fabulous spot soon."

"If you're looking for a place to spend the Christmas holidays, don't pass up Disneyland.

There'll be no snow, but you'll never miss it with the 'snow-capped' Matterhorn Mountain in the background and its 24-foot Christmas Star on the peak. Up and down Main Street, the Christmas spirit of a bygone age returns with old-fashioned decorations and entertainment.

The ninth annual Disneyland Christmas Parade kicks off the season on Sunday, December 22, when more than 3,000 participants representing nations around the glove will march in colorful costumes.

Bands, choruses and marching units from all parts of Southern California are included in the festival which concludes with Walt Disney's Parade of Toys.

In the pageant are giant Spanish masks, six foot toy soldiers, trains, dolls and clowns climaxed by Santa Clause in h is sleigh.

That same day, at dusk, more than 1,000 singers will parade in a spectacular Christmas caroling service in Town Square.

The parade is just the beginning of many yuletide events including the daily appearance of all the Disney characters, the Disneyland carolers and other special entertainment throughout the fabulous 'Magic Kingdom'.

Somehow, there's a special Magic about the park during the Christmas season. In Town Square, a giant of an old-fashioned Christmas tree rises 50 feet in the air.

In the moat beside Sleeping Beauty's Castle, snow white yule trees float in the still waters usually reserved only for black and white swans. Frontierland's decorations include antique ornaments and Christmas candles.

Even when the parades have passed, there is always something new and different to do in Disneyland.

Newest adventure is in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room where birds, flowers and tiki gods perform under the direction of space-age electronic devices.

The show is a musical fantasy featuring 225 Audio Animatronic performers in which sound, motion and lighting are all controlled by a single machine.

Also in Adventureland you will find the new Swiss Family Treehouse rising 80 feet above the jungle and matching the description of the tree home used by the island castaways in the famous novel, 'Swiss Family Robinson.'

For the Christmas atmosphere, however, no place can match Fantasyland filled with fascinating giant toys taken from the world's most famous Storybooks. There's Peter Pan's flight over London to be experienced by each Disneyland visitor riding in a little flying galleon. There are the Mad Hatter's teacups, big enough to ride in. There's Dumbo, the flying elephant, fitted with seats for a whirling journey.

The Little Engine that Could awaits with a colorful string of toy railroad cars, just he right size for adults and children. You can explore Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' diamond mine, Alice's Wonderland and the miniature worlds of Storybook Land. Even Sleeping Beautify's Castle is open for inspection.

Especially during Christmas, Disneyland is an enchanted world, where the 'toy' trains are big enough to ride in, the stuffed toys are life-size and full of life and the favorite stories of children of all ages become reality.

As for accommodations, there are several hundred new motels in the immediate Disneyland area in addition to the Disneyland Hotel which is connected to the park via the Disneland-Alweg Monorail System. Many have special rates during the winter season.

As a climax to the holiday season, you will want to attend the annual Disneyland New Year's Eve Party which will run until 2:00am on January 1, 1964.

"Robert C. Catron, editor and Publisher of Tavern Talk, the hotel magazine for 17 central states including our own Nevada, is the following guest columnist. Bob is a handsome young fellow who is very well-known by all the hotel people in the country and puts out a danady magazine titled, Tavern Talk, with head offices in Kansas City, Missouri. He is a varlued member of the Hillsway Advisory Board and has been a friend of mine for a long time. I see him eoften at hotel conventnions which he attends religiously. He usually shares the spotlight with Wilbur Clark in furnishing a Foreward and Preface for the Hillsways Travel Guild Books.

"Show business people are generally strange, foreign, exotic, emulated, adored, held in awe, actively disliked and even hated by those they entertain. Unfortunately these people are the victims of their roles and of their press agents who, for the sake of publicity, amange to rake every bit of good, bad or indifferent gossip they can from their clients.

As a small hotel magazine publisher and printer, about the only contact I have had with show business people has been to view them on the stage, in the movies or television, pass them on the street, or sit at a nearby table in such places as Lindy's or the old Chex Paree. Once in a well remember moment, I got to shake hands with Rudy Vallee and chat with Jayne Mansfield and Paul Cicerni. All are well remembered occasions.

I would guess that my reaction to people in show business is average. Once can't help but compare the lives of public figures with one's own life and the tendency to pick the person or persons in public life with whom you would like to identify is strong. (In my case it is John Wayne and James Arness, both tall, he-men types over 6 feet tall and entirely unlike myself.) Sometimes I wonder if you in show business have any knowledge of the impact which you have on we ordinary individuals?

To get down to cases. It recently fell my lot to write a short biography of hotelman Semour Weiss, president and managing director of the Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans. Mr. Weiss is well known among those in s how business and is admired and respected by a great many people in all walks of life as well as those in the entertainment world. In gathering data about Mr. Weiss I had to write a number of his friends, among them, Phil Harris. I fully expected to either receive the stock Hollywood handout and a picture of no answer at all.

My surprise was great when I received a prompt reply from Mr. Harris, and even greater to discover that he had written a letter himself, by his own hand.

Surely here was a great man, one who still has time and patience to honor another man. His was hardly the expected reaction from a Hollywood 'Star'.

When roland Hill asked me to write something for Fabulous Las Vegas Magazine I immediately thought of all the people who might be reading my words and what sort of a message I could have for them.

I was reminded of the time Bob Hope gave 45 minutes of his very valuable time (free) to entertain those attending the American Hotel Association convention in Cleveland while, at the same time down the street, a popular singer was appearing who refused to emulate Mr. Hope without her customery fee of $1,500.

I was reminded of other incidents where, when the chips were down, or there was a need of money, time, travel, sacrifice, Bob Hope and others in the wrold of show business have given freely and generously of their personal happiness and contentment to help.

Surely then, by being allowed to get a message to you in show business, I feel the responsibilitiy to say thnks from all of us out here.

Some of us are poor, harried, living humdrum lives and depressed. We appreciate the cheer, the gladness, the joy which the people of your profession have given us and which have, briefly and sometimes even permanently, taken us out of our individual misery.

We envy your success, but most of us are quietly thankful that we don't have to live the seeming race with life or worth the long, hard and unusual hours which most of you must. Surely you are entitled to every nickle you make, every placque, honor and all the glory which comes your way.

Thanks from all of us here on the other side of the footlights for a job well done - and a Holy Christmas to you all."

Fanny Lazzar, world-renowned restaurateur, owns, established and runs Fanny's Restaurant at 1601 Simpson Street in Evanston, Illinois. This is the world's most honored restaurant. It has garnered more honors, decorations and had more articles written about it than any other restaurant. All because of Fanny's genius, hard work and philosophy of life which follows in the next guest column:

"At this time of year, when the holidays begin rolling around, we being to think of the many friends we wish to remember with a gift. We make a list for each member of the family, the children, the relatives, the employees, everyone we love and cherish, we seek to please and make happy, by giving generously of time and money toward the selection of whatever we think they may desire most. And it is a wondrous feeling, the spirit of giving and sharing with others which puts a song in the heart and the head because to give, is to love, and to love, is to give. The gentlest and most powerful quality in our nature is love. The cohesive element of the universe is love. God is love, and when we really understand that we are living in a universe of unlimited good, encompassed by the love of God, then and then only, do we possess the key which unlocks all the mysterious doors of fears, troubles, and all the negativisms of thoughts and actions, and releases us from the bondage of their captivity.

Thinking along these lines it suddenly occurred to me that the joyousness we express in the gifting of others would provide true and complete fulfillment of the desires of our own hearts if we but stop and reflect and gift our own selves with the most fabulously beautiful give we could ever give ourselves. And what is this gift? What is this gift that no amount of money can buy and yet, will be the most valuable and cherished possession we can ever have? What is this wondrous gift which will be a source of our physical well-being, our intellectual might and give us the motional stability we need to withstand the onslaughts and discords of earthly existence. What is this gift, that centers us in strength, like a veritable Rock of Gibraltar and when the derisive laughters, catcalls, shouts, hisses, and all the uproar in the play on the stage of the world about us, with actors who have lost the focus of true, and the acting is twisted and distorted and out of perspective will not submerge us in despair and disgust. What is this give that is indeed a citadel in our hearts which will withstand the siege of the battling forces, racial, political, hidden on this world's stage which shows the sheep-wolf guise of certain religious groups, whose special distinctness is the God of their own Power and not really the Power of God or good? What is this gift, to ourselves which can start a flow of good to us and give us the abundant life, God provides for us every day that we live?

And what is this gift which in giving us this flow of good set off by the creative Law of God will flow good to others for as we receive, we give, and as we give, we receive ever more of the all that the Infinite Life has to offer us. Yes, what is this gift to ourselves, which would end the quibbling, the strife, the bickerings, because we will better understand what the nature of our mission on this earth is all about, and why we are here. This is the gift. This is the gift which will indeed begin a New Life for me and for you, a 'Vita Nuova.' It is the gift of faith. The kind of faith that will make us stand secure in life and which makes us know that there is the Divine within our own selves and that all the answers to anything and everything which can confront us in life and to our dying day will be right there where we are. When we give ourselves, this kind of gift - Faith - we will have a force which should remind us of a great oak tree, for no matter the storms that blow upon it, it will ever remain unbroken by them. The difference between the failure or success in life (and I am not necessarily speaking of material success) is lack of true faith, faith in God, which is also faith in ourselves, because the Divine, is truly in the very center of our beings. But you may ask as I asked many years ago, when I was too faced the future without faith. Too much study, too much trouble, too much despair, my world was a world of too much nothingness.

I had an Irish friend, Evelyn Reardon, who is still my friend, who had such faith it was a joy to be with her but faith with the Irish is something that is born in their very tissues as the saying goes. I never met an Irishman without faith. This is why laughing eyes and hearts are the Irishman's gifts from God. 'I wish I had your faith Evelyn," I said to her one day, 'oh to have your kind of faith to believe to believe, to accept without doubt and questions that life has meaning that there really is a god up there.' 'Well,' answered Evelyn, smiling 'simply start praying for faith that is all there is to it. Pray and God will grant you the kind of faith you need so badly in your shipwrecked life you are cast on an island of doubts and fears but if you pray, God will give you faith, I promise, because I know and I too will pray for you.' This was some 30 years ago. And so I prayed I said night after night 'Oh God, help Thou my unbelief and help me to believe to have faith, give me the greatest gift a human being can have, the greatest gift, I can give myself too. Give me Oh God the gift of Faith, please.' And little by little, it came to me, for I discovered that the great hand of the Universe was becoming discernible to me because faith was slowly coming through to me in devious ways. My path in life was taking a new course. I was learning from every mistake I had made in my life. As Faith began to take hold of me I felt that I was getting back on the right track that would get me to my true and proper destination. As Faith increased and with daily prayer, it keeps increasing, I knew that I was molding my life into a newer and more desired shape or form because I was choosing the Divine pattern and cutting the cloth of my life very carefully and coming out with the most beautiful gown my shoulders would ever wear. Ah, but this gift of Faith can make our lives start over again, nor matter what age we may be - 30, 50, we are never too old to make a new beginning. When we gift ourselves with Faith as I did to myself many years ago, then and then only will we be climbing upward, upward, evermore every day with ever increasing knowledge and understanding of everything pertaining to the Divine order or scheme of things. Strange, that with this great gift of Faith we grow and become alerted to an ever greater awareness of the spiritual and clear our own vision so that we actually see beyond our own consciousness into the realm of the eternal.

With faith we being to understand that our soul is not a thing apart from us we know that WE are the soul and our bodies are the unreal and transitory part of us which changes in material every day and which we will some day discard. Somehow without this gift of Faith we cannot accept the reality of life or our relation to the Universal Mind or God. Without Faith it is impossible for any of us to attain the highest degree of spiritual attainment. And we do need to obtain it.

We, the Universe began with God and everything returns to Him including ourselves. And if we accept this gift of Faith and give ourselves this wondrous gift, we will discover that God's world is indeed beautiful, harmonious, truthful and loving and if we grow in this conscious we will express 'the light of the world.' Without Faith we see only the storm and the strike and nothing is worth the struggle because we are powerless as we deny God.

It is true that God is in all of us but we are not all of God. Faith is the key to the very door of the eternal. The dust of the ground which we are and to which our bodies will return someday have the breath of life, the thinking mind, because the soul has been infused.

And so I say at this time of year, when we are joyously thinking of gifting everyone we love, why not gift ourselves with Faith. Then and then only will we awaken to the greater consciousness of our true identity and find ourselves attuned to the voice of inner Wisdom. And best of all, find that we are indeed a part of God and we will know as Science is discovering more and more every day that there is not one point of separation between God and His creation and that evolution, as Teilhard says is no hypothesis. Nothing can appear that has not been prepared from all ternity, and the universe is always at work perfecting itself. And as I once wrong in a previous article, life is either a melody or a dirge. Gifting ourselves with the priceless jewel of Faith, gift us with the knowledge that we are in league with the Divine that will wisely guide lovingly sustain us in every crisis in our lives, fulfill our every need, until our very beings will respond as we enter into a new life, happy beyond description."

Mrs. Howell Ross Hanson is one of the most charming ladies I know. She was born and reared in the very best traidtions of the South, to a life which could have been one of ease, luxury and comfort to the 'nth degree, but she has chosen to foresake all these things money can buy and do something worth while with her money and her talents. And she is going a grand job of it. She was reared to be a lady of refinement and culture to live a life of ease. She married extremely well. Her first husband was a Candler whose father and family invested and owned Coca Cola. They raised a fine family before Mr. Candler's untimely death. He, as a hobby, built the fabulous ATLANTA BILTMORE HOTEL. After his death, the hotel had hard sledding during the depression. That is wehre Mrs. Hanson left the comforts of her many mansions and went tow ork. She not only saved the hotel from depression ruin as so many other great hotels were doomed, but has put it back on its feet, improved it, added beauty and charm, until now it rates with the great hotels of the world. Mrs. Hanson later married a Broker, banker and Mainliner from Philadelphia who also died early. Now, she and her very nice sister, Ora Sperl, share a lovely large apartment next door to the hotel and, daily, Mrs. Hanson runs this hostelry in ship-shape form. Busy as she is with her hotel, her various charities and philanthropies and social life, she took time to write the following:

"Hotel business is one of the most colorful and rewarding businesses imaginable!

It takes untold vitality; imagination that sees and registers; the know-how to make people happy, and that probably includes some important musts - good food, comfortable beds, pleasant temperature and unfailing service, dispensed in every department. The great reward is the heartfelt letter of gratitude that come from the department guest.

To be a good hotel operator, the head must also be a detective, a decorator and have a sensitive feeling of what is wrong. The reward brings great joy in the accomplishment of all these needs, and our peaceful garden, with large oak trees and magnolia trees, with thier waxy white blossoms, together with the boxwood bordered beds, also say 'Thank You.'

These things make it worth the effort and tell us the story of 'Happy People.' What a joy to be a part of it.'

"This columnist needs no introduction to Las Vegas. He is Percy Vill who owns and runs Percy's Villa down on East Charleston across from the Huntington Theatre and also a flourishing vening machine business. Percy hails from Minnesota where he was most active in youth activities, Boys' athletic leagues, and teaching sports at fashionable Blake School, a prep school for boys. He is a well-known and as well-liked a man as I know in Minneapolis and is fast becoming as popular in Las Vegas. A few years ago he lived in Vegas and wrote a column for the SUN and then, as he put it, made the colossal mistake of his life by moving back to cold Minnesota - a mistake he has now righted by moving back here to Las Vegas and I think he is the happiest man in town. I know you will enthuse with him when you read his column praising Las Vegas.

"I'm indeed thrilled by the chance of doing a guest column for Roland. Since I haven't written a column for a long time, this writing a column for someone else is something I used to impose on others to do for me (Roland included).

The Villas came to Las Vegas in the summer of '55 starting with the Las Vegas Sun as Promotion Director and also covering the Strip, doing feature stories on local personalities. In '57 I shot a boo boo and made the world's biggest blunder and boy when I make a mistake - it's a beaut. You may have guessed it by now - we returned to Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Percy, I like Minneapolis. Roland Hill) But last November we rectified that mistake and returned to Las Vegas. The children are almost on their own at the University of Minnesota and so my beautiful Anabelle and I felt we could leave them there and return to Las Vegas. Roland asked that I mention the many friends that I have in Vegas - but for fear that I may leave some out, I won't attempt to even try.

In the past two years Strip hotels have opened five gold courses, four tennis courts and numerous riding stables and bicycle trails. In addition a 450 boat marina has opened on Lake Mead. Most of other hotels now maintain cabin cruisers for their guests.

The newest and one of the most beautiful hotels on the Strip is the Castaways across the street from the Sands Hotel. Ben Jaffe is the builder and owner and did a splendid job of it.

All the hotels are putting up soaring additions where patrons can relax, well above the din of existing gambling casinos. The Fremont Hotel is really something to see - one of the beauties of the world. This hotel has everything.

Nearing completion is the new 29 story Landmark Hotel. It will house a gambling casino and as the tallest building in Nevada it will offer its guests an extra attraction - a view of Lake Mead and parts of four states.

The Dunes Hotel is going up to 22 stories high and should be ready by next June.

The Desert Inn, recently added another 200 rooms and now has the most modernistic showroom in America.

Of course the Sahara Hotel with its 1,000 rooms is the most complete hotel, I believe, in the entire world.

The Mint will soon be called the Mint Hotel. The newest Fremont Street hotel will have over 500 rooms, will be 26 stories high and should be opened in late '64.

that is just a few of the good things happening here. All the other hotels are keeping pace too. Land values are soaring and that accounts for the skyscraper trend. Land is now around $3,000 a foot - more than double the price of five years ago (Hillsway could have bought the entire Strip for $500 when we first started coming to Las Vegas). Many of the hotels have added halls seating up to 1,500 persons, to lure more conventions. They often split their marquees between billing their entertainment and bidding for a convention.

A $7 million public convention auditorium, built four years ago, already has brought in 400 conventions, and would you believe it, such sedate organizations as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the National Council of Catholic Women had their conventions in Las Vegas last year?

Jim Deitch, head man of the Las Vegas News Bureau and his assistant, Don English, are both doing a million dollar job. That goes for Barney Rawlings of the convention bureau, too.

I haven't mentioned (because of space) the fabulous hotel shows. I love every corner of the showrooms and casinos, even though I don't drink, smoke or gamble. Las Vegas does not require you to do those things. It is a city where you can do as you please and no one cares. The best buy in town is the great lounge shows. Just think, for one buck and sometimes less you can see attractions that get $10,000 each week. Where else can you find entertainment life that for less.

Thanks again Roland for allowing me to visit via your column."