Julio Iglesias' Christmas cards from 2008 featured his children from his most recent marriage, but what about Enrique? I guess he does his own thing from the holidays.

I did not know, but apparently Julio Iglesias’s Christmas cards are famous around the world. I guess his celebrity and fame has not really diminished in the last few years and I say this because I was surprised to see Iglesias’s 2008 Christmas cards online while looking for a particular song’s lyrics. This story goes on and on about Julio’s tarjetas de Navidad and how this year in particular he chose a photo card that included his younger kids – Miguel, Alejandro, Victor, Cristina, Guillermo, and the family pets. But odd enough, the holiday cards don’t feature any of his older somewhat famous stock – Enrique, Julio, or Chabeli.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m old enough to be a fan, but I really did not realize how Christmas, celebrity-hood, and a simple gesture as a holiday card can be so important in some circles. I’m glad to see that the spirit is alive and how even the more famous among us have a soft spot for Christmas and pictures of their own little ones.

Fortunately for me, at my age I don’t have little ones anymore to include in my Christmas cards, but I like the idea of my doggie Max taking center stage on my next cards. I admit Max is not much to look at, but we don’t bring looks up between pals…I might loose that contest anyway.

In an era of ever more polarizing political figures, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin may take first prize. While conservatives drool over the gun-toting, bible-thumping, Washington-ripping hockey mom, liberals sneer over her (contrived) folksy speech and desire to return America to a bygone cultural era (one that most of us have either forgotten, or are fortunate enough to have never known).

To capitalize on the former Miss Wasilla’s contentious appeal, a number of Christmas card companies and political websites have produced Sarah Palin Christmas cards, oftentimes with a humorous or mocking tone. Three such examples appear here.

In the Palin Christmas card to the right, a smiling Sarah crouches over the heart-shot carcass of a reindeer (presumably Rudolph, himself, if the shiny red nose is any indication). She is grasping a rifle and an infant dangles on her chest in a camouflage-pattern papoose carrier. The words “You betcha it’s Christmas!” appear below the photoshopped image. In an accompanying story on the Weekly World News website, it is sarcastically implied that the “beast” was actually a Russian-built spy-elk created in a lab to be used as a weapon against America. They further surmise that if Barack Obama had come upon this death-machine, he would have thrown down his weapon and conceded to unconditional negotiations with the enemy cyborg, thereby endangering America.

In another Sarah Palin Christmas card, a racier version of Palin again appears to have felled Santa’s lead reindeer. Above the exclamation “OOPS”, she appears in a short Christmas dress and black high-heel boots with her still-smoking rifle. In the background, before a range of snowy mountains, Santa and the rest of his sleigh-driving team look on in horror as one of the former Alaska governor’s famed hunting helicopters circles overhead.

In the following cartoon-style Palin Christmas card, a trio of Santa’s horned crew prepare for a night of mischief-making against their nemesis. Donning body-armor and Kevlar helmets, they are pictured filling a large sack with spray paint and toilet tissue. At the bottom of the Christmas card is the caption, “Santa’s reindeer prepare for a stop at Sarah Palin’s house.”

As far as I’m concerned, I don’t see how spending 2 ½ years as the governor of one of the nation’s most geographically-remote and least populous states (before quitting) makes one fit to be president. The lack of basic political and historical knowledge, which she has displayed in a series of interviews, would be comical if it were not so scary. But I suppose that the Palin-for-President debate will continue to rage for the foreseeable future – or at least for as long as the national media continues its bizarre Palin-centric ratings-inspired love affair.

We're not sure if Sally Field sends Christmas cards, but we do know she enjoys celebrating the holidays with her grandchildren.

She played a nun celebrating Christmas and directed the TV film The Christmas Tree, but I have found only one reference of Sally Field celebrating Christmas. In homespun tradition, she and her grandchildren celebrate with art projects. Apparently, Sally has buckets of materials that can be used for these art projects and gives her grandchildren gifts of art supplies for the holidays. I don’t know if she sends Christmas cards but we will return to that in a bit.

Sally arrived on TV in 1965 playing the lead role in Gidget. She followed this role by playing the lead in the TV series The Flying Nun from 1967 through 1970. Her high energy and feistiness of those years still show through today almost 40 years later. She appears most often today as spokesperson for Boniva, an osteoporosis medication. She was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 2005 and has since been on medication to control bone loss. She has become an advocate for bringing this serious, often overlooked disease that can lead to extreme pain and disability, mainly for women, into the public eye.

Early in her career an agent told her that she wasn’t a good enough actor for movies. She fired her agent and in her inimitable style proceeded to study acting at night at the Actor’s Studio, with the acting coach Lee Strasberg. Her movie career earned her two Oscars; one for Norma Rae, the other for Places in the Heart along with numerous other awards and nominations.

It took her a long time to prove that she could act in mature roles, because to this day, we still picture the young Sally; she seems to be ageless. Sally has proven her mettle over the years by undertaking roles such as Sybil in the movie of the same name. She also played the mother in Forest Gump. We are lucky that she had the confidence in herself to fire the agent and follow her instinct that she could play mature roles in movies.

Her personal life includes two unsuccessful marriages and a long-time relationship with Burt Reynolds. According to the tabloids, she rejected a number of marriage proposals by Burt Reynolds. She has three children from her marriages; Peter and Eli Craig from her marriage to Steven Craig and Samuel Greisman from her marriage to Alan Greisman. She has been reported as saying, “I’ve never had my heart broken, I think that’s very sad, that I haven’t allowed my heart to be broken. I have broken a few.” Currently her Malibu home is shared with her mother and two dogs.

Back to Sally Field sending as her Christmas cards. She keeps her religion private so I wouldn’t assume she would send a traditional Christmas card. She is an avid gardener, so maybe she would use a picture of a bougainvillea like the ones that grow at her Malibu home with a “Peace to All on Earth” sentiment. After all, she does live in sunny, warm California where most people wish for a white Christmas but rarely see one, and surely wishing peace to all would go along with her anti-war sentiments. Or perhaps she’d display a picture of her favorite tree, a gnarled oak, which also grows behind her home. This oak has suffered from age and was scorched by a California wildfire but still grows. She spoke fondly of the tree in a Ladies Home Journal interview: “This is my favorite tree. It’s been around a long time and as you can see it’s come into contact with some struggle and hard times over the years. But it’s still alive and still enjoying life.” The same can be said of Sally Field. She has survived a lot but is still the strong and saucy young woman that supposedly broke an actor’s ribs during the filming of Norma Rae. He was playing the cop that was carrying Norma Rae out of the factory during a protest. Truly getting into character, she kicked him so hard that she broke a rib. I hope she will be entertaining us for a long time to come.

What a Christmas cards photo-op! Proud mommy Jessica Alba posing with smiley daughter, Honor.

With it being her daughter’s first Christmas, I’m sure Jessica Alba went all out. I can picture it already – beautiful Christmas cards with her daughter in a cute little red dress with a fireplace burning in the background. The Christmas tree that she purchased along with her husband will more than likely be in the background view, elegantly decorated with a star on top.

Even with all the excitement in her personal life that didn’t stop Jessica from taking time to fit some charity work in this holiday season. Jessica is joining other A-list celebs in an effort to eradicate hunger in America. She is donating signed custom holiday photos to Netflix, who will be handing out Gift Boxes that will include Jessica’s photos along with some other generous gifts to anyone who donates $5,000 or more to the Feeding America campaign.

Despite being raised in a traditional Catholic family, Jessica has spoken publicly about leaving the Church because of being judged for her appearance as well as her roles she has played in the movies. Jessica also had objections to the lack of women role models in the Bible as well as the Church’s condemnations of homosexuality and premarital sex. But she still has a great belief in God.

Her roles as an actress have included leads in Sin City and Fantastic Four. My personal favorite is her TV role in Dark Angel, which aired from 2000 to 2002. And her role as an actress on the big screen has been getting better ever since, which I’m sure for her doesn’t even compare to her new role as a “mommy.” Jessica and Cash Warren tied the knot in May of 2007, just a couple of weeks before she gave birth to their daughter, Honor Marie Warren. Jessica has called Honor the “love of her life” so no doubt this Christmas will be just as special as the last with even more precious Christmas cards to create.