Christmas cards from the 1930s featuring gleeful Shirley Temple waving while riding a sleigh.

Back in the 1930s at the height of the Great Depression, there wasn’t much that would make people smile…nothing, that is, except for Shirley Temple.

Shirley got her start at a very early age and her movies literally saved some Hollywood studios from succumbing to bankruptcy. At the height of her popularity her studio sent out Christmas cards bearing her image. These holiday greeting cards showed a smiling Shirley sitting on a sled in the snow. Everything about these cards from the snowy background, the large Christmas wreath tied with a large red bow down to Shirley’s red mittens portrayed everyone’s notion of an ideal Christmas. While the nation was still recovering, just looking at this picture made people feel more optimistic. You felt that good times were just around the corner. In fact, in one of his addresses to the public, FDR had been quoted as saying, “As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we’ll be alright.” What greater compliment can there be for someone?

Shirley’s career in the movies was actually quite brief but definitely memorable. While she started at the tender age of three, she filmed her last movie and hung up her tap dancing shoes by the age of 21. During that time she worked with some of the greatest actors of that time. Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Ronald Reagan, and Claudette Colbert were just a few. Besides singing in her movies, Shirley was a first class tap dancer. She learned many of her steps and appeared in several movies with the great African-American tap dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. One of their routines from The Little Colonel had them tap dancing up and down a staircase. They were so good they made it look effortless.

After Shirley retired from film making she went on to raise a family with her husband of over 50 years, Charles Black. She also became involved with politics, being a staunch Republican. She was made a delegate to the United Nations in 1969 by Richard Nixon and ultimately acted as U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1989.

Currently, Shirley is living quietly in California enjoying her role as grandmother and more recently as great-grandmother.

The late Patrick Swayze, who will be remembered around the holidays from the clever carol from Mystery Science Theater 3000, "A Patrick Swayze Christmas," and his film, "Christmas in Wonderland," co-starring Carmen Electra.

Those of us who grew up in the 80s will always remember Patrick Swayze as the smooth-moved Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing. Mothers and daughters alike have wept for almost 20 years at the romantic thriller Ghost, co-starring Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. Others will always think of his turn as Vida Boheme in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar and smile. What many may not realize is that, when it’s time to deck the halls and start writing out those holiday cards, a Patrick Swayze Christmas carol is ready to help get you into the holiday spirit.

In 1991, the people behind cult classic Mystery Science Theater 3000 wrote the carol “A Patrick Swayze Christmas,” inspired by the film Road House. Those familiar with that movie will chuckle at lyrics such as “Oh, let’s have a Patrick Swayze Christmas this year! Or we’ll tear your throat out and kick you in the ear…” Not surprisingly, this unconventional ode even includes a mid-song action sequence!

In my opinion, the MST3K Christmas carol is hard to beat. Still, it is not the only Christmas-related Swayze medium available to us. One of Patrick’s last roles was Christmas in Wonderland, a comedy about Christmas shopping, counterfeit money, and Santa Claus. While a film that co-stars Carmen Electra might not be high-grade cinema, it must have been a fun shoot. A picture of the two of them together would probably make for pretty nice celebrity Holiday cards, too!

For almost two years, Patrick Swayze fought a brave battle with pancreatic cancer – and, sadly, with the tabloids, who would not leave him alone, claiming he had “five weeks to live” (he lasted almost 18 months) and putting him on “death watch” any time it was reported he had the sniffles. Patrick, who considered himself a cowboy through and through and had the support and love of his wife, Lisa, lost the fight on September 14th. Those who had the privilege of working with, watching, or knowing him will miss him.

A 2005 spoof on the Christmas cards sent by Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah, who are better known as the daughters of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.

With names like Rumer, Scout and Tallulah, one can only imagine what sort of holiday cards would be interesting and attention-grabbing enough for the Willis/Moore girls to send out. Do holiday card companies even make special cards for people who follow Scientology? Probably not. I am sure if one did, it would be a front runner in the Celebrity Christmas cards business. Instead, we found this hilarious spoof of a homemade card from 2005 featuring a photo of the three girls together. The holiday card looks well enough made, and could be a top contender for the Willis/Moore not-so-nuclear or traditional family. It features an ever-classic candy cane border with a pink and red theme. The card also has a note written on it, presumably written by the girls, and includes classic hipster phrases such as “OMG” and “as if!” No mention, of course, of any scientology beliefs however…maybe they’re saving that for next year!

In this day and age celebrities continue to seek attention by giving their children bizarre names. One may ask where the inspiration came from for Bronx Mowgli, Apple, and Suri. Probably from the original trendsetters of this former faux pas – Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, who creatively named their daughters Rumer Glenn, Scout LaRue, and Tallulah Belle. Bruce and Demi are apparently okay with their daughters having names that sound like gossip-spreading cows.

However, maybe one should not question their daughters’ names, especially after reviewing the current relationship statuses of Bruce and Demi. I know that sounds a little harsh, but it’s true, isn’t it? Demi is a beautiful woman who has aged well over the years. If you need that information confirmed, just ask her husband, Ashton Kutcher, who just so happens to be 16 years younger than her. Bruce Willis recently remarried on a Caribbean island to a 30 year old model, Emma Heming, who is almost half his age. The age difference between Ashton and Demi’s oldest daughter, Rumer, is only ten years. Clearly the step-parents and step-daughters will get along because they have more generational similarities than the wife/mother, Demi, and the husband/father, Bruce. Am I the only person who thinks it’s a shame that Demi Moore’s daughters don’t look more like her? Bruce is a good looking man, but he’s precisely that – a man. His daughters definitely look more like him than Demi.

The covers of the eight Christmas greetings albums that the Beatles sent to their fan club members from 1963-1969 and one last album from 1971 following their breakup.

As a huge Beatles fanatic, I have amassed a gargantuan collection of their music over the more than 45 years since they became immensely popular, first in Britain, of course, and then in America. One of the rarest items I own are the seven individual recordings they made each year that were sent to their British Beatles fan club members…sort of an audio Christmas card, if you will.

Because the Fabs were most appreciative of their fans buying their records, especially when their real fame was just beginning, they wanted somehow to get across their thanks and well-wishes to each fan club member during the Christmas season. Not having access to home addresses, they decided to do the next best thing.

Each year, beginning in 1963, a flexi disc (a soft, thin, vinyl phonograph record; the type often attached to the spine of a magazine) was mailed to fan club members at no charge. The contents of the Christmas recordings contained holiday greetings and thanks from John, Paul, George and Ringo via the spoken word, through renditions of holiday songs, and/or through skits. Some of the treats on the recordings include playful renditions of traditional Christmas songs such as “Jingle Bells” and “Good King Wenceslas,” a quite humorous version of the Beatles classic, “Yesterday,” original ditties such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Ringo,” and “Christmastime is Here Again” as well as cover versions of songs by the Four Tops and Barry McGuire.

So for me, rather than looking each December in my mailbox for Christmas cards from the Beatles (which will never come), I turn on the old stereo and have a great time each holiday season listening to those delightful Christmas wishes from the band that has given me so much joy!

Celebrity Christmas cards designed by Julianne Moore to help raise funds for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

What’s not to love about Julianne Moore? She’s active in a number of charitable organizations including the AmberWatch Foundation, Save the Children, Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, and Hope for the Holidays, a charity created by Yahoo! and Old Navy to raise funds for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. One of the creative ways this charity raises funds is through a campaign that offers Christmas cards designed by celebrities for sale to the public. Julianne Moore designed Christmas cards for Hope for the Holidays; her design featured several randomly placed star-topped evergreen trees with a red cursive “Merry Christmas” sentiment. From the looks of her celebrity Christmas card, Moore is no artist, but I always find it inspiring when celebrities donate their time, money, and talent to charitable causes. Moore is certainly one of these celebrities whose heart is as big as her talent.

Julianne Moore was born on December 3, 1960 in Fayetteville, North Carolina at Fort Bragg. Her mother was a psychiatric social worker from Scotland while her father was a colonel in the U.S. Army. Growing up in a military family, she along with her younger sister and brother, lived in several places across the United States and Germany. Moore graduated from Frankfurt American High School in Frankfurt, Germany in 1979. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Boston University in 1983. In 1984 she made a brief appearance on the daytime soap opera, The Edge of Night, and the following year began a three year stint on As the World Turns.

I remember the first time I took notice of Julianne Moore was in the 1995 romantic comedy, Nine Months, with British actor Hugh Grant. I thought what a strikingly attractive woman she is with her red hair and fair complexion. To me she is a classic beauty…and talented to boot. I’ve been a fan of hers since and have seen a few of her feature films, none of which have been a disappointment.