Let me get a jump on wishing you all a very happy Christmas. I am hoping that you are spending your holiday with your loved ones and enjoying the warmth of the family. On an outside chance you are still checking your emails and looking to read something this weekend, here is a list of seven stories for you to enjoy.

• Czechoslovakian politician and poet Vaclav Havel passed away earlier this month. The Paris Review has published outtakes from an interview with the man who shepherded his country’s transition from communism to today’s Europe.
• I am glad that venture capitalist (and a patron of crazy-awesome shirts) Brad Feld argues that life (and the Internet) is not about having the most friends, but its about having the best friends. With 45 summers behind me, I now have the wisdom to whole heartedly agree with him.
• What does it mean to be best? Is being best the way to compete or think about your business? Joan Magretta in Harvard Business Review raises some good questions and offers her responses to obsession with the best.
• Why we all need childlike curiosity. Shawn Parr sums up the reasons why we don’t need to grow up. As you look into 2012 make this core to your thinking.
• In Living by Default, James Surowiecki of the New Yorker points out that the shame that came with potential business/corporate failure aka bankruptcy lacks the shame and stigma that it used to carry in the past. “When it comes to debt, then, the corporate attitude is do as I say, not as I do.”
• The pen is mightier than the phone. Kevin Purdy writes about importance of pen and paper. I couldn’t agree more. My Montblanc goes with me everywhere.
• Decoding “I cracked it.” Jeremy Toeman takes a gander at what Apple TV might look like and is pretty close to cracking it.

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