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| The note above came from a substitute employee who worked in the office today. He has been carrying this scrap of newspaper around in his wallet since the date above and yes it says Sunday, Dec. 19, 1976. |
Christmas is a time when people get together and enjoy each other in the various forms of fragrant foods, anticipated presents, & the loving spirit from family and friend alike. Yet for others it's another holiday which is met with uncertainty in regards to if there will be enough food on the table, a roof over their heads, and if Santa will come down their chimney or at least knock on the door.
I am blessed to have come from a wonderful family, immediate and extended and have never had to want for anything. I have amazing friends that have been in my life since the beginning and others I have been blessed to know along my journey. Yet I realize not everyone is so fortunate.
At my job we do a program during Christmas called "Lend a Hand". This involves helping families that are in need in the community of the school district that I work in. This year I heard we reached a record high in regards to the families that were asking for assistance. So each school has taken a number of families under their wing and trying to help them enjoy the holidays as much as possible.
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| These gloves ONLY represent 6 families |
After going through the mittens there were four that really stuck out to me.
If you don't already know I am a HUGE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. I mean I was obsessive with the cartoons as I was growing up and LOVED the original movie that came out on the big screen back in the 1990's. My biggest crush was on Leonardo and I was going nuts when I went to Six Flags and was lucky enough to see them in concert. I even had the cassette tape of their songs, some of their comic books and I was probably borderline stalker-ish..... Anything that came out I just had to have. I even had the video games and a few t-shirts. Now that I think about it for me to have a crush on a mutant turtle probably wasn't all that healthy but what I can I say, Leonardo had a suave way about himself.... So for that young man I made sure to get him a Christmas present worthwhile.
Two other kids wanted board games which I thought was pretty awesome. I miss playing board and card games like Sorry and UNO. Something about being able to enjoying yourself and other people without technology being involved. I especially enjoyed Connect Four and Hungry Hippo. So I had a blast going to Toys-R-US to pick up those particular gifts.
Now this last one, really got to me. When someone is asking for something as basic as soap which to me should be a necessity in life, here this young lady is asking for it as a luxury in HERS. I made sure to do something special for her. So I'm going to personally wrap some items I bought for her this weekend and put a card in there with a note. Every young woman should feel pampered even when it comes to something such as shower gel and lotion.
Now if you remember the picture of the note that started off this blog post. The gentleman that was subbing for my coworker told me he has been carrying around that note in his pocket to remind himself of how important it is to help others who are in need. He has been carrying around that newspaper clipping in his pocket since December 19, 1976.
Here is another picture of the note, bigger size. Look below to see what the note says.
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| "Dear Santa, Mom said you got lost last year and couldn't find your way to our house. We really missed you especially my little sisters. Please come this year Santa we are being very good. Mom says you will get lost again maybe so here is a map. Love Craig P.S. Don't leave anything for dad because he isn't here anymore." |
So I guess in a nutshell what I just want to convey is this, be thankful if you are going through these holidays without any serious burdens. You do not qualify if by serious burden the only thing that comes to mind is what your clubbin outfit will look like on New Years Eve.
Be kind to those you meet even if it's with a smile and if you can, try to give (monetary or voluntary) because you never know how much it will mean to the person on the receiving end. I believe in karma, what you do will come back to you and it works in the positive and negative.
Until the next episode....
All That MsJazz
