I planned to send a season's greetings spitball to the mass media boobs who keep telling us Christmas is under attack, but I couldn't concentrate over the sound of daughter Amelia's voice as she sang along to her favorite CD by Aly and AJ.

"It's the greatest time of year, and it's here, help me celebrate it!" Amelia exclaimed, rocking out in her wheelchair. "With everybody here, friends so dear, let me simply state it: It's our favorite way to spend the holiday!"

The kid needs no microphone to communicate the message of the season. Around our house, we're grateful for every holiday we receive. Although we're Christmas-centric, the kind of people who leave their lights up past Valentine's Day, we wouldn't mind celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or any other occasion for family and friends to gather and give thanks for the gift of life.

"Joy to the world, and everyone lift up your hearts and feel the love!" the kid sang.

Amelia wasn't thinking about the heavy sentiment, of course. She was cutting gingerbread cookie dough, belting out the high notes and trying her best not to open a neatly wrapped present she'd just received from her friend, Kyndel Gregory.

Did I say they were friends? They surely are. Kyndel and Amelia haven't actually met yet, but they're kindred spirits. The daughter of Nancy and Gary Gregory, Kyndel was diagnosed at age 16 months with medulloblastoma. She had her first brain surgery, later was diagnosed with a different form of cancer, and underwent a second operation followed by a series of chemotherapy and radiation treatments and tandem stem-cell transplants. The Gregorys nearly lost their daughter on more than one occasion, but today she's a healthy 8-year-old.

The Gregorys are one of many local families who have reached out to Amelia and her family over the past two years as we've endured our own battle with a brain tumor and childhood cancer. I don't know where we'd be without those families and the individuals who have shared their stories of hope and encouraged us to hang in there and fight the good fight.

With so much goodness in the world, how could anyone but a clown claim that Christmas was under attack?

Now that's what I call humbug.

The kid shows her parents every day what the good life is all about.

Amelia attended two summer camps for cancer survivors: Camp Firefly at Torino Ranch and Arizona Camp Sunrise outside Payson. They're not only a ton of fun for the campers, but the gathering is a reminder that others share your experience and the circle of survivors is wide and diverse.

These days, she is e-mail pals with Lacey Butler, an exuberant teenager from Sparks whom she met at the Arizona camp. Lacey also had a brain tumor. She has lost much of her eyesight, but not her sense of humor. She should consider a career in comedy.

This past summer at camp Amelia also met Kim, who lost a leg to the disease, and Antonita, who has sickle cell. Life has dealt them mountainous challenges. They climb without complaint and show more grace in a day than the blowhards could manage in a decade.

At the risk of sounding like a character out of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the season isn't about all the glitz and commercialism, and it certainly isn't about all the fear-mongering, but about being grateful for life's gifts. So if you're Christmas people, sing praises to the Lord, or at least play "It's a Wonderful Life" in an endless loop until New Year's. If you're Hanukkah people, let your lights of hope and faith shine. If you celebrate Kwanzaa, shout it to the world.

That's the proper response to all the self-important media ninnies who posture and puff and question the security of the season. It's funny, really. In a way, television's self-appointed yuletide hand-wringers have become as much a part of the seasonal tradition as traffic jams at the mall and the return of long lines at Kmart.

I could go on, but I'm about to burn a batch of gingerbread cookies, and the kid hates it when I do that.

"It's the greatest time of year, and it's here, help me celebrate it," she sang. "Joy to the world! Joy to the world! Joy to the world!"

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.