The following cartoon shows an image that would make humorous Tim Tebow Christmas cards for 2012. This picture made the rounds in print and on the internet following Tebow’s Denver Broncos noncompetitive 45-10 playoff drubbing at the hands of Tom Brady’s New England Patriots. It depicts Tebow in his signature post-touchdown or post-victory pose of genuflection, praying to his “new” messiah Brady. While the dismantling of the Denverites made for lackluster NFL theater, it at least served to quiet down the legions of misguided Tebow devotees, who have taken their worship of this glorified college quarterback to previously unseen levels.

Tim Tebow may not actually worship Tom Brady, but he certainly could learn a thing or two from him.

Timothy Richard Tebow was born on August 14, 1987 in the Philippines, the youngest of five children born to Baptist missionaries. During his mother’s pregnancy, she suffered a life-threatening infection. A stillbirth was expected and she was advised to have an abortion, as to not put her own life in danger. She refused, and Tim was born healthy, bucking the odds and surprising the doctors. After the family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, Tim, like his brothers and sisters, was homeschooled by his mother, who worked to instill the family’s Christian beliefs.

Tebow came into national prominence as a junior at Florida’s 4A Nease High School. He was known not only for his running and throwing, but for his intense competitiveness and physical courage, once playing the entire second half of a game with a broken fibula. Tebow was considered one of the nation’s top recruits and was the subject of an ESPN “Faces in Sports” documentary. The segment was titled “Tim Tebow: The Chosen One”, and focused on Tim’s deep religious faith, his homeschooling and the three summers he spent doing missionary work in the Philippines, as well as his exploits on the field of play and the college recruiting process.

Tebow received an athletic scholarship to play for the Florida Gators football team from 2006 to 2009. While he spent his freshman year as a backup, he eventually became a star, capturing the Heisman Trophy, college football’s most coveted individual award, in 2007, leading the team to a BCS championship in 2008, and a 13–1 in 2009.

In 2010, the son of missionaries was drafted by the Denver Broncos with the 25th pick of the first round. Tebow played sparingly during his rookie season, appearing in six games as a backup, and starting the last three. His rise to prominence began in 2011 when, after a 1-4 start, Tebow was named the starting quarterback. He led the team to a playoff berth and a win over the favored Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round. Tebow soon became a nationally-renowned and controversial figure due to his outspoken and unabashed religiosity.

It’s that time of year again….awards season!  Celebrities are running in high gear…and so are their plastic surgeons.  The glitz, the glamour, the red carpet, the jewelry, the leathery skin…but enough about Joan Rivers.  The time has come for talented men and women to receive recognition for achievements made to the entertainment business.  And there’s no bigger prize in motion picture than that adorable little gold guy Oscar.  With news of the nominations, Hollywood is abuzz with Oscar fever.  It’s such a shame the award comes so early in the year…by the time celebs send out their Christmas cards, they may forget they even have that old Oscar.  Especially if you’re Meryl Streep.

Yup, Meryl’s up for another award.  She may be portraying Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, but the title is more apropos for Streep’s own career.  This marks her 17th career nomination for Oscar, the most of any actor.  She hasn’t won since 1983 for Sophie’s Choice, but this is quite an impressive feat nonetheless.  Given her win at the Golden Globes for Best Actress, Drama, it looks like Meryl may be making the trip to the podium for the third time (before Sophie’s Choice, there was her supporting actress win for Kramer vs. Kramer).

Sure, Meryl may be making history, but my favorite story to come out of these nominations has to be Melissa McCarthy.  Just a few short months ago, I had the pleasure of blogging Melissa’s Emmy win for Mike & Molly, and now the girl is an Oscar nominee!  It’s the Year of McCarthy, my friends, so jump on board this bandwagon!  McCarthy is up for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her breakout role in Bridesmaids.  Costar Kristen Wiig, herself a powerhouse comedic performer, is an Oscar nominee herself, snagging an Original Screenplay Oscar along with co-writer Annie Mumolo.  Oscar tends to shy away from comedies, so these nominations are a welcome change of pace.

My other favorite?  Jonah Hill for Best Supporting Actor in Moneyball.  Anyone who saw Hill in Superbad may not have thought that his career trajectory included “Oscar nominee”, but he proved those naysayers wrong.  My money has him losing to Christopher Plummer (whom you may know as Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music…sidebar: Plummer is about a million years old and has never won an Oscar.  This year, that will change.).  Either way, it’s a move in the right direction for this versatile young actor.

Winners will be announced on February 26.  Until then, I have lots of movies I need to see!

Sir Elton John won’t be receiving Christmas cards from Madonna this year, especially after his rant at the “Q Music Magazine” awards in London where he accused Madonna of lip synching once he discovered that she was up for the “Best Live Act Award”, and wanted to know since when is lip synching considered live? Elton was receiving a song writing award and it turned out that the Material Girl did not win the Live Act award, the British band Muse won it. He thought that anyone who lip syncs onstage should be shot for cheating their fans and charging £75 (US $134) a ticket.

There is no love lost between Madonna and Elton John. Nothing like a good catfight to keep awards season interesting!

In response Madonna’s US based spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg rejected Elton’s allegations by issuing this statement: “Madonna does not lip-synch nor does she spend her time trashing other artists. She sang every note on her Reinvention tour live and is not ashamed that she was well paid for her hard work.” Furthermore, “Elton John remains on her Christmas card list whether he is nice … or naughty.”

The tension between the two Divas continued at the Golden Globes when both were nominated for “Best Original Song” and Madonna won for her song “Masterpiece”. If it wasn’t enough that both Elton and his partner David Furnish had identical looks of displeasure when Madonna’s name was announced as the winner, David was so upset about Elton’s loss that he vented his feelings in not so many expletives on Facebook, criticizing her acceptance speech for reeking of  narcissism.

Sore losers, whose side are you on?

Who wouldn’t want Christmas cards from Tom Selleck? Mr. Tall, Dark, and Craggily Handsome Selleck is a picture worthy of receiving on the front of any Christmas card. Maybe we would have to settle for having his wife, Jilly, and his daughter, Hannah in the picture with him, but hey, we can just cover them up with our own picture and that would be perfect. I would like to be pictured standing next to Tom Selleck in my very own celebrity Christmas cards…my friends would be thrilled.

Tom Selleck is a nice looking guy who was born in Detroit on January 29, 1945, but he grew up in Sherman Oaks, California. He is the second of four children, and his mother must have loved sending out Christmas cards with the picture of Tom and his two brothers and sister. Can you imagine what a cute little boy he was growing up?

From Magnum P.I. to Blue Bloods, Tom Selleck is a hollywood hunk with an awesome 'stache!

Tom Selleck matured to be a tall, athletic young man and attended the University of Southern California on a basketball scholarship. Somewhere along the line, he decided to study acting and went to the Beverly Hills Playhouse. He appeared several times on The Dating Game and he was never picked! Of course, in those days he had no moustache! Yes he had some acting roles, but they were not so successful until he decided to grow his moustache. He became a celebrity and a sex symbol when he landed the role as Magnum, P.I.  Now, he may have been cute before then, but wow, who could resist watching the show so you could see this gorgeous man in a bathing suit on the sands of Hawaii with those long, long legs and irreverent smile. Better than that was when he was coifed and clothed in a tuxedo. Gorgeous!

Tom Selleck starred in Magnum from 1980 to 1988 and went on to star in feature movies and made for TV movies. Among these were Runaway, Three Men and a Baby, Lassiter, Her Alibi, and An Innocent Man. He can now be seen on the television show Blue Bloods, where he plays the patriarch of a family of police officers. Selleck has won several People’s Choice Awards, Golden Globes, and an Emmy.

Selleck has been married to Jilly Mack since 1987 and lives on an avocado ranch in Thousand Oaks, California. Can you see him standing in the hot sun pruning the avocadoes? Yes that would be a great picture which he could send out as his celebrity Christmas cards this year. Can anyone tell me how to get on his mailing list?

Mark Harmon keeps his family life tightly under wraps and out of the limelight. It is almost impossible to find out how he, his wife Pam Dawber (of Mork and Mindy and Sister Sam fame), and their family celebrate Christmas. In the early 80s, when Mark was celebrating the advent of a successful screen career, he gifted his father with a new Mercedes Benz for Christmas. Perhaps his family Christmas cards would be purchased from The Children’s Center, a charity he supports in Bethany, Oklahoma.

Mark Harmon has starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS since 2003. He plays a former Marine sniper who is now a Supervisory Special Agent at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. His performance may be enhanced because his maternal Grandfather was William Franklin Knox, United States Secretary of the Navy during World War II.

Mark certainly had a lot to live up to. He followed in his father’s footsteps during high school and college by playing football and in his mother’s footsteps after graduation.  Mark’s sister Kristin was married to the late singer Ricky Nelson. His sister Kelly was married to car magnate John DeLorean.

In most of his roles he plays a heroic, low-keyed character. The role of hero came to life in front of his house in 1996 when he pulled two teenagers from a burning car after an accident. He had to break the windows with a sledgehammer. In his imitable style, he shunned the media attention that followed and said, “I was the one with the sledgehammer in my garage.”

As a huge fan of Denzel Washington, who happens to be my favorite actor, I was extremely curious as to what kind of Christmas cards he had chosen for his family holiday greetings. What did I find? Nada, zilch, zero! I did some more research and I came across several bios explaining how he keeps his family life private and how hard he tries to keep his family out of the celebrity limelight as well as little tidbits about his childhood in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., his support of the YMCA where he spent many of his younger years, and how he is a father of four, his two youngest being twins.

A heavenly angel from a movie is as close as we are going to get to seeing Denzel's Christmas cards!

Even though I couldn’t find Christmas cards sent by Denzel or the Washington family, I did find a picture that is noteworthy. I came across a Christmas picture from a movie Denzel made back in 1996, and looking at the photo I knew it would make a wonderful Christmas card that Denzel would be proud to send to his many adoring fans, myself included. The scene was from the movie The Preacher’s Wife and all I could see clearly was Denzel’s dreamy face and mega watt smile beaming back at me and boy did it take my breath away. The Christmas movie also included several other African American celebrities, Whitney Houston being one of them, but my main focus was on Denzel. The movie is a remake of the 1948 classic The Bishop’s Wife, but with a modern twist. The cast was all African American and the location of the story took place in Denzel’s home town of Mt. Vernon. The bishop was now a Baptist minister and the cathedral was now a small neighborhood Baptist church. But what really tickled my fancy and my attention was the ever handsome Denzel Washington who played the angel Dudley sent from above to help the minister with certain church and personal affairs. Wow, what a handsome Christmas angel he made! Denzel Washington posing as Dudley the angel would make the perfect celebrity Christmas card to send out to his fans.

Mariah Carey has always been one who enjoys having the spot light on her so  this Christmas season it will be interesting because she’ll share that light with 3 others by bringing in the holiday season with her twins and husband Nick Cannon. First, let me just say this, I hope the Christmas cards Mariah sends to family and friends will reflect her as a modern day mature mother of twins, Monroe and Moroccan, because we do know Mariah is notorious for her provocative photos from CD covers, magazines and perfume advertisements.

Will diva Mariah Carey let her husband Nick and twin babies take center stage this Christmas?

She has a perfume line for Elizabeth Arden called Lollipop Splash showing the singer displaying teenybopper accessories in the ad. Come on Mariah,  you’re a 42 year old Mother, not a 13 year old Lolita in a lace trimmed tee, sucking a pink lollipop and hair pulled back to one side with a  barrette clipped in your hair. How juvenile.

Let’s hope that Mariah will have a different approach with the photos she takes for this year’s Christmas cards with the twins and her husband in the picture. Momma Mariah can be unpredictable in her approach to being the center of attention displaying sexy, cutesy little Santa suits. Let’s just wait and see how the diva Mariah will set the stage for her cards. I know we will be waiting with baited breath.

With only a week left before Christmas, celebrities must be scrambling to send out those last minute Christmas cards.  Correction: celebrity assistants must be scrambling to send out those last minute Christmas cards.  While Santa is making his list and checking it twice, I’ve compiled my own list.  I present to you, the epic, monumental, out-of-this-world list of celebrities I do NOT want to receive Christmas cards from, the 2011 edition.

This image of Lindsay Lohan is sweet. It almost makes you forget what a disaster she's become.

•    Miley Cyrus—Oh Miley, oh honey, really?  Really?  You are taking the stoner route?  You are going to shed your good girl Disney image by taking bong pictures and having Bob Marley birthday cakes?  Really?  Have you not learned any lessons from…
•    Lindsay Lohan—Because, let’s be real, when you have to pose for Playboy after brief stints in jail, your career is extremely rock solid!  Lindsay’s spread has leaked on the Internet, so I can’t imagine the issue will be a big-sell.  Hey, Lindsay, remember that music career you had?  Maybe you can sing a duet with..
•    Justin Bieber—On second thought, don’t.  Just don’t.  Paternity tests, a haircut.  It was a busy year for this kid.  Justin, please admit to being the father of that baby.  You could send out such adorable Christmas cards, your potential offspring rocking the wavy-emo hair, Selena Gomez shedding tears in the background.  Speaking of Selena (because I couldn’t think of a snappier segue, cut me some slack)…
•    Jennifer Lopez—I still want my money back from sitting through The Back-Up Plan.  And watching a lackluster, highly-autotuned singer give advice to wannabes on American Idol is enough to make me miss Paula.

I think I’ve been grinchy enough.  I could add more (I’m looking at you, Simon Cowell—enough with the V-necks!), but there’s always next year.  Until then, keep doing what you do so well, you crazy celebrities!  And, as always, feel free to add your two cents below!

I always wonder what certain people around the world send for photo Christmas cards.  We all know what Mom and Pop send and the rest of our loved ones but what do those eccentric people out there do?  For example, what kind of card does Vince McMahon send?

Vince McMahon and his wife Linda must send out the craziest photo Christmas cards you've ever seen!

Does he go simple and just throw a WWE logo on there?  Does he send photo cards, and if so, what goes on it?  If I was going to take a stab at what he might send I would say it would be a picture of scantily clad WWE divas curled up to Santa and that Santa would be played by Vince McMahon.  Now those are cards I’d like to receive!

You never know, he could be very conservative when it comes to cards.  What if he goes all classical on us and shows some chestnuts roasting on an open fire?  That could happen you know!  But I don’t see it.  I think another option would be for big Vince to show Santa about to get the Smackdown from The Rock.  Possibly thru a bunch of presents; now that makes more sense.  Who wouldn’t want to receive that?  Well… perhaps a lot of you but I would.  Maybe I’ll send Vince some Christmas cards this year and see if I can get one back.

Every year I seem to struggle with buying my friend, Jamie, a Christmas gift. I always ask her what she wants and I seem to get the same response…nothing. Jamie is a close friend of the family and we have been exchanging gifts for years. She is a simple person who doesn’t ask for much. This makes it extremely difficult to buy a gift for her. Therefore, I always wind up getting her a gift card from a chain store or local restaurant. But she had helped me a lot this year with my recent move, so I wanted to try and get her something special.

After a few weeks of procrastinating, I still hadn’t thought of a gift to get Jamie, but soon a great idea hit me. As I was watching the Today Show one morning, they just finished a segment on celebrity Christmas cards. Later on in the program, they were going to bring on Clint Eastwood. This was it!  Jamie is a huge Clint Eastwood fan and I could get her some of his more popular movies. I quickly picked up the phone and dialed Jamie’s brother, Brian. I asked him if Jamie owned any Clint Eastwood movies. Brian soon pointed out that she had an extensive movie collection and was pretty sure that she owned all the Eastwood movies that she liked.

Clint Eastwood would like you to go ahead and make his day by having a very Merry Christmas!

I decided to scrap the movie idea and took my search to the internet. I pulled out my laptop and ran a search on E-Bay. My initial search results didn’t show anything that piqued my interest. It was mostly Eastwood DVDs, posters, and pictures. As I dug further though, I found some pretty cool items: a pair of signed gloves from the movie Million Dollar Baby, an Eastwood worn Stetson hat, a life sized card board cutout, and even a dollar bill with Clint’s picture in the middle of it. While all these items were pretty cool, they just didn’t seem practical. What was Jamie going to do with a Stetson hat?

I started to become frustrated. I finally had a great lead on a gift, but couldn’t pull it together. I continued running my search, as Clint Eastwood made his appearance on the Today Show. I wasn’t interested much in his interview but did hear that they were giving away five personalized signed Eastwood pictures. Every 10th caller would win!

I picked up my phone and started dialing…busy! I tried again…busy. I tried two more times and finally got through. I won! I asked if Clint could personalize the photo with Jamie’s name, wishing her a happy birthday. They said this wouldn’t be a problem and mailed me the picture

Three days later I received the package. The autograph read “To my biggest fan, Jamie.  Merry Christmas.” How cool was this?!? And the timing was perfect. Jamie was having a few friends over at her place later that week. She was going to be out of town on Christmas and decided to have a holiday party before hand. I immediately went out and bought a frame.

On the day of the party, I picked up Jamie’s brother, Brian. I wanted to keep the gift a secret from everyone, and didn’t even tell him. As we showed up on Jamie’s doorstep, I gave Brian my camera. I asked him to take a picture of Jamie as she opened her gift. As we walked in to Jamie’s place, I handed her the gift. Brian started snapping pictures as she opened it up. She looked at it with a puzzled face, then bursted into laughter. I didn’t know what to make of her reaction, so I asked her if she liked it. She then left the room, only to return with another autographed picture from Clint Eastwood. Jamie then said, “I guess you watch the Today Show too, huh?”