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We are blessed. What a nation. What a people. What a land. What of its future?

These thoughts overwhelmed me Christmas morning as I drove into The Tribune for what might be its last Christmas — at least as we know it today.

A great success story in its golden age, The Trib now is the victim of American progress and change, in which image is valued more than substance; news cycles rule, with evenings reserved for things other than reading news and commentary; graphics trump words; time is too short for truth, thought, reflection and purpose.

As I cruised down the mesa from Rio Rancho, the winter sun — fresh from its deep, southern solstice and now marching ever-so-slowly north — crept over the Manzano Mountains. Its rays streaked across the frosty grasslands, illuminating the West Side's volcanoes and the desert beyond.

Breathtaking, it conjured all the grandiose phrases about America the beautiful and reminded me that despite all its flaws and failures, the great American experiment — governance of, by and for the people — continues.

We continue to believe — to place our faith in leaders we think will help us realize the magnificent potential that is America. Almost without exception, they fail us. Still, we search for the one.

In this season of all seasons, when hope, love and peace are the essence, we are at war, occupying a distant land whose only real connection to us is its black gold.

Yet the only clue that we are at war, among the mess of traffic jams and overloaded mall parking lots, is the occasional flag at half mast — a reminder that for at least one New Mexico family the reality that we are at war is searingly painful this season and for all seasons to come.

But image trumps reality. As we are about to officially embark on the election of a new president, with Iowa's caucuses only days way, the campaigning finished its Christmas break not on notes of peace, but with virtually every candidate insisting that he or she is, indeed, wholeheartedly for Christmas.

In a nation that — we are told, make no mistake about it — is Christian, presidential candidates felt obliged to run television commercials assuring voters that they are the real deal. One actually told us there is no freedom without religion, and another suggested his patriotism begins not with the Constitution but with his creed.

Meanwhile, many churches are concerned enough about our fixation with things other than faith that they feel the need to hang banners reminding us of "the reason for the season."

As I drove home to load the car with presents and food for Christmas dinner at my daughter's, I couldn't help wondering if next Christmas — a month after the 2008 presidential election — I will see the sun break over the mountains and feel that America, finally, has found its soul.