| Blessed Hanukkah |
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Friday, December 7, 2012
Christmas Across America: A Small White Envelope (Watery Eyes Alert)
While cruisin' the internet for some Christmas material suitable for
posting, I found s collection of Christmas stories, not from some famous
writer, but just plain folks. Like you. Like me. I was drawn to one
story in particular, a story called "A Small White Envelope". I am a
better man for having read it. "A Small White Envelope" is a true story,
plainly written, but every last word of it comes from the
heart...because the writer is telling a tale that she was a part of, not
something contrived or hastily thought out. The message of "A Small
White Envelope" is a familiar, yet timeless one. It is a testament to a
family who took the Meaning of Christmas and actually practiced it.
A Small White Envelope
It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas---oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it- overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma---the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.
Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them."
Mike loved kids-all kids-and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition---one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.
The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.
As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there.
You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.
Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.
May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always. God bless. The End.
I rarely copy and paste a whole story or article because it's just bad manners at the least and plagiarizing at worst. I did not want to break up "A Small White Envelope" into pieces. I hope the author understands the reasoning behind my decision. I think he or she will and to him or her I'd like to say thank you for such a personal and touching story.
Merry Christmas and God bless you.
(hat tip to A Wharton Texas Christmas)
It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas---oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it- overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma---the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.
Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them."
Mike loved kids-all kids-and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition---one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.
The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.
As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there.
You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.
Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.
May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always. God bless. The End.
I rarely copy and paste a whole story or article because it's just bad manners at the least and plagiarizing at worst. I did not want to break up "A Small White Envelope" into pieces. I hope the author understands the reasoning behind my decision. I think he or she will and to him or her I'd like to say thank you for such a personal and touching story.
Merry Christmas and God bless you.
(hat tip to A Wharton Texas Christmas)
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Christmas Across America: Anticipating the Big Day with My Little Girls
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| A child is born... |
I wrote the following post two Christmases ago for one of my other blogs. As a matter of fact, that blog, Three States Plus One is the precursor to this one.
Other than the dates and the ages of me and my kids, the story could have been written ten minutes ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same I am told.
If you have favorite Christmas story, please tell us about it in the comments. If you're a little comment-shy, email your tale to me at lower48plus2 AT gmail DOT com, and if you are cool with it, I'll post it for everyone to read.
I hope you enjoy my story.
It's December 17 and the calendar continues on its unstoppable march to Christmas, 2010. I don't know about you but I have done more Christmas shopping with my wife over the past few weeks than I have ever done in my previous 53 years on this planet. I thought us old guys would be able to enjoy the dawn of our Sunset Years, spend a lot of time with our grand kids and take it easy during the Christmas season. That's before I went and married up with a younger woman and became the father to a new batch of kids who are younger than my grand children. I'm not complaining, mind you, I am speaking of the way the Good Lord does things His way and in such mysterious ways. Although my body says "ouch" quite often while shopping these days, my heart and mind say "thanks" and there seems to be a smile frozen on my face in anticipation of seeing the reactions of my two little girls, Issy, 8 and Bailey, 3 come Christmas Day. Then there's the inevitable mangling of the wrapping paper on their Christmas goodies. I haven't been an eyewitness to kids rippin' into Christmas presents in almost thirty years when my sons were children. Trey is now 31 and Toby is 28. See? It's been a while.
A couple of other things that I have noticed over the last several weeks are how Bailey goes ballistic when she sees some toy or another that she can't live without in a TV commercial and the afternoon inventory of presents under the tree about 3:15 each day after school when Issy gets off the bus. She looks over those presents like a pitbull looks at a T-bone. The intense scrutiny of her observant blue eyes never misses even the smallest change in number or appearance of those gifts. And like that pitbull slobberin' over a medium rare steak, Issy is poised to lay waste to any and all wrapping paper and/or boxes within reach. Ah, the exuberance of youth.
Bailey on the other hand, is constantly reminding us of which toys she deems fit to be hers as the toy commercials play on TV. We are lucky to have cable TV which features about 7 or 8 hundred kids' channels, each one with a different set of toy commercials to taunt and tantalize children to the point of near-hysteria. "Daddy, look!" or "Daddy, I want that!" are the most used phrases in the English language this month at our house. As I type this, what happens right on cue? A toy commercial comes on during Spongebob and Bailey shouts "Mama, I want that!" The kid has impeccable timing. If I were rich instead of handsome (that's what my Dad used to say), I'd own half of Toys R Us and damn near all of Walmart's toy inventory. Alas, I am handsome. :)
Being the father of two young children at 54 years old holds challenges aplenty, to be sure, but those challenges are far outweighed by the rewards that only children can give - neverending smiles, laughter on the spur of the moment when we least expect it, unconditional love and ulcers. OK, I made that last part up. I have been blessed by God with the two little girls that He had planned for me long ago, when the only plan I had was to go fishin' or take a trip to the casino. Yup, the Good Lord knows exactly when to clobber us with a clue by 4 when the timing is juuussstt right. Like Crocodile Dundee said, "Me and God. We be mates". I couldn't have said it better myself.
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Christmas Across America: Colorado Springs
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| Christmas in the Rockies |
Colorado Springs is one of my favorite places in Colorado. Pikes Peak looms 14,000 feet plus over the city to the west and it's just a couple of reindeer jumps to Santa's Workshop on the road to Garden of the Gods. The Springs is situated in an environment that is perfect for celebrating Christmas. Moiuntain, snow, Santa's Worshop...what more could you ask for?
Folks like Kevin and Linda Pickett utilize their Christmas-y setting in Colorado Springs to it's maximum effect. You see, the Picketts, like many other area residents get into the Christmas Spirit every year, but Kevin and Linda take the season a little more seriously than most other people. Sure they decorate their home for Christmas just like millions of other Americans, with lights, yard displays and other Yuletide gizmos. It's just that the Picketts use over 100,000 lights and a sleigh full of technically enhanced Christmas scenes. It is absolutely out of this world! They have the lights and various animated scenes in their yard sync'd to music play over their very own low power FM radio station! Click here to access the Picketts' web site and see for yourself. I'm as serious as dandruff, it's nuts! In a good way, of course. Once on their home page, you can click links to a photographic history and evolution of the annual Christmas extravaganza. They even have videos of it as it was featured on the Big 3 TV networks! There are also links to other people in the United States who are what Kevin calls 'light gurus" and the "above average" displays they have put together.
This is one of the best Christmas things I have ever seen. The web site has some of the most incredible content of any such web site in the world. Drop by Kevin and Linda's site, sign their guest book and take some time to really check out the place. You'll thank me later.
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Christmas Across America:Wonderland of Lights - Marshall,Texas
| Light Fantastic |
Texans do things in a big way and celebrating Christmas is no different.
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| Christmas at the Court House |
Some of the other activities taking place during the festival include a variety of entertainment and activities, including live entertainment in the Old Memorial City Hall Auditorium, Church of the Bells, Carriage Rides, Bus Tours to neighborhoods with elaborate decorations and lighted scenes, driving tour route with displays over 24 ft tall, visits with Santa, the annual “lighted” Christmas Parade and an Outdoor Ice Skating Rink.
This year's Wonderland of Lights continues through New Year's Eve, so there's still time to make plans to see one of the most spectacular displays of the Christmas Spirit you'll find anywhere. It's truly an experience that everyone in your family will be delighted by. I have been to the Wonderland of Lights festival more than once, and I can tell you first-hand that it's every bit as good (or better) as advertised.
Marshall is 150 miles east of Dallas on I-20, so it's only a couple hour drive - a drive well worth taking. As an added bonus, it's only 41 miles from Marshall to the casinos in Shreveport. Just sayin'.
For group tour information or sponsorship opportunities, contact the Marshall Convention & Visitors Bureau by email or at (903) 702-7777.
Wonderland of Lights - the Texas way to say Merry Christmas !!!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Maine Christmas: The Christmas Prelude in Kennebunkport
The Christmas Prelude in Kennebunkport
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| Lobster Trap Christmas Tree |
One of Maine's most famous cities, Kennebunkport, is celebrating a thirty-one year old festival called Christmas Prelude. While Christmas Prelude may be a relative newcomer in terms years, it's long on tradition and big on beauty.
The first Christmas Prelude was held in 1982 and "included a tree lighting ceremony, a River Tree Arts concert, a chowder luncheon, candlelight caroling and Santa’s arrival by lobster boat. We now have three tree-lighting ceremonies – Dock Square in Kennebunkport, Lower Village of Kennebunk and the lobster trap tree in Cape Porpoise; about a dozen Art and Craft Fairs; approximately 12 venues serving either breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea or dinner; programs sponsored by the Historical Society; and 12 programs of music celebrating the season. Santa still arrives by lobster boat escorted by two very special “lobster elves”. The Kennebunkport Business Association’s Christmas Prelude is now in its 31st year. For each of these years, business people have worked with the community to recreate the spirit and joy of the Christmas season."
Click here to go to the Christmas Prelude web site home page, and you be treated to a beautiful slide show from previous years of the celebration. On that page there are also helpful links about lodging, a schedule of events and contact information for the folks who run the Christmas Prelude. This year's festivities have already begun so be sure to check the schedule of events for the day and time of your favorite activity.
Friday, November 30, 2012
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas in the Lower 48 (Plus 2)!
The Christmas Season is upon us once again, so let's celebrate this joyous time of year as only America can!
Starting December 3 and continuing for the next three weeks, Lower 48 (Plus 2) will travel the country from North to South and sea to shining sea highlighting some of the best Christmas festivals, Christmas light displays and Yuletide stories that dot the landscape of the Fruited Plain and typify a traditional American Christmas. And we'd like you to be a part of our celebration!
If you have a Christmas event (festival, story, lighting display, etc.) in your town, city or state that you'd like to share with America and the World, by all means notify us in the comment section of any post on Lower 48 (Plus 2) or, if you prefer, email us the information and/or a link to the info about your event, and we'll happily shine the Lower 48 (Plus 2) spotlight on it for everyone to see!
Our email address is lower48plus2 AT gmail DOT com. You can also follow us on Twitter @Lower48Plus2 and we can't encourage you enough to leave us a comment on the blog - you comment, we respond. No matter how you choose to contact us, we love hearing from you and look forward to your input!
Thank you all very much!
Merry Christmas!
Starting December 3 and continuing for the next three weeks, Lower 48 (Plus 2) will travel the country from North to South and sea to shining sea highlighting some of the best Christmas festivals, Christmas light displays and Yuletide stories that dot the landscape of the Fruited Plain and typify a traditional American Christmas. And we'd like you to be a part of our celebration!
If you have a Christmas event (festival, story, lighting display, etc.) in your town, city or state that you'd like to share with America and the World, by all means notify us in the comment section of any post on Lower 48 (Plus 2) or, if you prefer, email us the information and/or a link to the info about your event, and we'll happily shine the Lower 48 (Plus 2) spotlight on it for everyone to see!
Our email address is lower48plus2 AT gmail DOT com. You can also follow us on Twitter @Lower48Plus2 and we can't encourage you enough to leave us a comment on the blog - you comment, we respond. No matter how you choose to contact us, we love hearing from you and look forward to your input!
Thank you all very much!
Merry Christmas!
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