See also

It's OK, I heard it was Blitzen and he never pulled his weight anyway.

Good grief, what a terrible way to die.

I was thinking the same thing, Specklet. "Fright" has to be one of the top ten worst ways to go.

a skydiving santa hit power lines once
that sounds less than fun

Ditto, kelly and Specklet. I have an intense desire to die wide awake and completely cognizant of what is taking place. I'd prefer it not involve much pain, but I don't know that I'll exactly have a choice in the matter. I simply have the sense that being lucid while shedding this mortal coil and greeting my maker would be a profoundly satisfying way to end my tenure on the planet.

However, one of the most important people in my life died unexpectedly a few years ago when her neck snapped in a car accident as she slept beside her husband in the passenger seat. The autopsy indicated that she died instantly. When I think of her death, I hold on to the image from the end of the film 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being', where instead of showing any aspect of the accident, the screen fades to white as the car heads over the hill and into the distance. Gentle, mysterious and sublime. It's given me a great deal of solace.