“And is it true? And is it true?
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,
A Baby in an ox’s stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?”

This poem was written by John Betjeman in 1954.

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Merry Christmas this morning of 2008. I find myself feeling in tune with the philosophy of that fabled co-founder of “Sesame Street,” Joan Ganz Cooney. She says, “This is the most incredible time to be alive. Everything that is happening makes me more eager to live long enough to see how things turn out.”

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It won’t be a Merry Christmas, of course, for many affected by events and also those who fell under the machinations of Bernard Madoff, who is being derisively called “Mr. Made Off – he ‘made off’ with everyone’s dough!”

Scores of major million-dollar houses have come on the market in Palm Beach, the Hamptons and in the Caribbean islands. On the posh isle of Mustique, people who thought they were very rich suddenly discovered they weren’t and the magnificent beach house had to go immediately at a bargain price. “All the pawn shops are bursting with jewelry and formerly rich people’s stuff now,” says one Palm Beach insider where the situation is likewise.

In the general economic situation, I know one person with a pricey piece of real estate in Connecticut. He was urged to sell his beautiful house at the top of the market before the crash. “Now,” says he, “it is worth a lot less but I am so glad I didn’t sell it because I would have just put all those profits right into the stock market. And now – where would I be if I had done that?”

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There is another smart cookie in Palm Beach who didn’t try to get richer via Bernard Madoff. She is the philanthropist Celia Lipton Farris who is celebrating her birthday today. She had her dough and she kept it so her many charities are safe. We wish Celia a very happy birthday and Merry Christmas.

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“Peace is the beauty of life!” That’s what it reads on the front of Elizabeth Taylor’s beautiful Christmas card this year. It came accompanied by a lovely personal note and a big box of fab chocolate truffles. I can’t think of a better sentiment for this old world.

We send our love back to the star of stars out in beautiful Bel Air!

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Ran into Marlo Thomas and hubby Phil Donahue and we began talking about the Christmas plea on TV Marlo is making for the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. I don’t know how she does it, but Marlo and her cohorts whomp up $600 million-plus every year to keep St. Jude’s able to treat ailing children with top-notch newest research, whether their families can pay or not.

When I congratulated Marlo, she laughed. “My brother and I used to say to our wonderful dad, Danny Thomas, who founded St. Jude’s – ‘Daddy, why couldn’t you have left us a booming, gambling casino instead of a children’s hospital to worry about?’”

Send your dollar to St. Jude’s this Christmas!

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Here’s a Christmas news flash. Author Sheila Weller has just signed with HarperCollins to write a bio of Michelle Obama. This writer is under the tutelage of Steve Ross, the publisher who put out Obama’s own The Audacity of Hope and republished his Dreams From My Father.

You remember Sheila; her book on Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and Carole King, titled Girls Like Us is still circulating to great effect.