# 283

Christmas Edition 2008

"The real spirit of Christmas is within you and me." Unknown

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. As a youngster growing up in New York, I loved to go into the city and see all the magical Christmas displays. Every major department store would have window displays that told their own story. I loved to go to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas Tree towering above the ice rink, lights twinkling in the night. And, I can remember while still in high school making the rounds through the neighborhood dressed in red, paying a final visit to the boys and girls before Santa came that night.

As we grew apart, family members would gather together for Christmas at my parents house. Those gathering always included the traditional game of Scrabble. We were highly competitive--no one wanted to lose. And those stories of our being together always bring smiles to our faces and laughter to our hearts. 

They’re gone now, my mother and father. We all have our own families spread from NY and NJ to Kansas City to Houston, to Phoenix, to California, and Georgia.  We don’t get together as a family much because of the distance.  This year I will be traveling to New York to spend time with my five sisters and their families.  I will travel to Kansas City in early January to spend a late Christmas with Lauren, Kaitlin, and Halle.

The Christmas Edition is always the longest edition of the year.  It sends a message of hope, love, and celebration.  And, regardless of whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanza, I want to wish you and your family a very Happy, Healthy, and Safe Holiday Season.

A Lesson From Dad:

I was a small child, maybe five years old. I was taken by my mother to a Christmas party hosted by the local American Legion. My father was a veteran of WWII and was proud of his Legion membership. All of the children were having a great time at the party--and then he walked in--Santa Claus. Like every other child there, I couldn't wait to see Santa. Waiting impatiently in line, my turn to see Santa finally arrived. I began to tell Santa what I wanted for Christmas when I noticed that he had one thumb nail bruised just like my father had. I ran to my mother. I told her it wasn't Santa, it was my father. She explained to me that Santa couldn't be everywhere at once, and that my father was just helping Santa.

That stuck with me. I donned the Santa outfit for the first time as a senior in high school. I went from house to house making sure that all the good little girls and boys were getting ready to bed, reminding them that Santa couldn't come to their house until they were fast asleep. It was something that I looked forward to doing every Christmas. It made me feel good that I was able to bring a sparkle to a child's eyes. As I sit here writing this Christmas Edition, I glance over to a photo of my father--Thanks, Dad for helping teach me about the joys of Christmas.

The Spirit of Giving by Oren Arnold 

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.

Your Christmas Tree by Tom Hughes

The size or color of your Christmas tree shouldn't matter.
Decorate it with love, and help from your children.
It's all about the magic of Christmas!

A List of Christmas Traditions

Each year at this time I try to share a story and/or list of Christmas traditions. Some are well known traditions, others not as well know. Here is the list for 2008:

•  During the 17th and 18th centuries Christmas wasn't fully accepted into the American Culture. It seems as if some of the early colonist objected to the pagan celebration.
• The ancient church regarded Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Jesus. However the church didn't celebrate Christmas until the 4th century.
• During the 19th Century, interest in Christmas spread due to the German immigrants who celebrated the tradition of Christmas.
• Most Christmas traditions are based on folk customs from Europe . Some of these customs are long forgotten--like the Yule Log. The Yule Log originated in England . The Yule Log was a log brought home on Christmas Eve and placed in the fireplace. It was burned for 12 hours to ward off bad luck in the coming year.
• The Christmas Tree tradition grew out of the Yule Log. It is said that Martin Luther had the first Christmas tree. He decorated the tree with candles to imitate the stars in the sky over Bethlehem .
• The first White House Christmas tree was in 1856. Franklin Pierce was President.
• Original tree decorations were Apples and Wafers. Apples represented mans sin. And wafers represented mans salvation. Apples were replaced by glass ornaments, and wafers by cookies cut in the shape of starts, angels, and animals.
• The poinsettia is the most popular Christmas plant. It is said to represent the Star of Bethlehem.
• Holly, ivy, and mistletoe are symbols of fertility, and thought to have healing powers.
• The legend of Santa Claus was born in Turkey around 270 AD He was considered to be the patron saint of children.
• The legend of Santa's descent down the chimney comes from Holland . It is said that the only way that Santa could deliver a present to a sick child was to go down the chimney. The red Santa suit is also of Dutch origin.
• The modern version of Santa was written by Clement Moore, The Night Before Christmas.
• Santa's home at the North Pole and use of reindeer to deliver his toy's comes from Scandinavia . 
• And add the commercialization of Christmas in about 1820 as ads first appeared in newspapers.

The Holy Day Season

The start of the holiday season for Christians is Advent Sunday, the fourth Sunday before Christmas. On December 6th, St. Nicholas Day is celebrated. Bodhi Day (Buddhist faith) is December 8th. Hanukkah begins December 10th (the date varies). December 13th is the Feast of Santa Lucia (celebrated in Sweden and Italy ). December 15-16 is Posados or Novena. December 17th Hanukkah ends (date varies). On the 19th St. Nicholas Day (Julian Calendar) and 20th St. Ignatious Day ( Romania ). December 21st marks St. Thomas Day. Little Christmas is celebrated on 12-23 in Denmark . Christmas Eve is December 24 th and Christmas Day is the 25th. On the 26 th, Kwanzaa begins; Boxing Day - England ; and St. Stephen’s Day are all celebrated. On the 27th, St. John’s Day and Mother’s Night are held. Holy Innocents Day is on the 28th. Bringing in the Boar is on the 30th. New Year’s Eve, St. Sylvester’s Eve, and Hogmanay – in Scotland are celebrated. January 1st is New Year’s Day and St. Basil’s Day. The holiday season continues with various celebrations until January 13. A side note- Holiday in its original form meant – Holy Day.

Regardless of your faith, your heritage, or your nationality, I wish you and your family the best at this very special time of year. It is a time for celebrating with family and friends. It is a time for reflection on the events of 2008. It is a time for forgiveness and a time for caring. It is a time for renewed faith. As Tiny Tim said in the Christmas Carol – God Bless us, Everyone!

Roses for a Dime: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow. Bobby didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any. The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job of keeping out the cold.

Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour already. And, try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother's Christmas gift. He shook his head as he thought, "This is useless, even if I do come up with an idea, I don't have any money to spend."
Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the family of five had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't care, or try, there just never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but the small wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far.

What the family lacked in money and material things, they more than made up for in love and family unity. Bobby had two older and one younger sister, who ran the household in their mother's absence.

All three of his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their mother. Somehow it just wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started to walk down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't easy being six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.

Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window. Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach. It was starting to get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly his eyes caught the glimmer of the setting sun's rays reflecting off of something along the curb. He reached down and discovered a shiny dime.

Never before has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby felt at that moment. As he held his new found treasure, a warmth spread throughout his entire body and he walked into the first store he saw. His excitement quickly turned cold when salesperson after salesperson told him that he could not buy anything with only a dime.

He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line. When the shop owner asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could buy one flower for his mother's Christmas gift. The shop owner looked at Bobby and his ten cent offering. Then he put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to him, "You just wait here and I'll see what I can do for you."

As Bobby waited, he looked at the beautiful flowers and even though he was a boy, he could see why mothers and girls liked flowers.

The sound of the door closing as the last customer left, jolted Bobby back to reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid.

Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter. There, before Bobby's eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses, with leaves of green and tiny white flowers all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby's heart sank as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into a long white box.

"That will be ten cents young man." the shop owner said reaching out his hand for the dime. Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime. Could this be true? No one else would give him a thing for his dime! Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, "I just happened to have some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like them?"
This time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed the long box into his hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the owner was holding for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry Christmas, son."

As he returned inside, the shop keeper’s wife walked out. "Who were you talking to back there and where are the roses you were fixing?"

Staring out the window, and blinking the tears from his own eyes, he replied, "A strange thing happened to me this morning. While I was setting up things to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me to set aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at the time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway. Then just a few minutes ago, a little boy came into the shop and wanted to buy a flower for his mother with one small dime.

"When I looked at him, I saw myself, many years ago. I too, was a poor boy with nothing to buy my mother a Christmas gift. A bearded man, whom I never knew, stopped me on the street and told me that he wanted to give me ten dollars.

 "When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was, and I put together a dozen of my very best roses."

The shop owner and his wife hugged each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the bitter cold air, they somehow didn't feel cold at all.

The Tablecloth

The newly ordained pastor and his wife were assigned to their first ministry. They were to reopen a church in Brooklyn . They arrived in early October, excited about their opportunities.
When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

 They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc..., and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19 a terrible tempest--a driving rainstorm hit in the area and lasted two days.

On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw the churches interior. The roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary. The damaged area was just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.

The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor. Not knowing what else to do, he cancelled the Christmas Eve service, and headed home. On his way home he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity, so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth. It was exquisite work, with fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By the time he approached the church, it had started to snow. An older woman was running from the opposite direction trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her in the warm church to wait for the next bus.

She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc.., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman was walking down the aisle. Her face was white as a sheet. "Pastor," she asked, "Where did you get that tablecloth?"

The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. They were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the tablecloth. The woman explained before World War II, she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to a concentration camp, and never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth, but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, which was the least he could do. She lived on Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door. Many said that they would be back.

One older man, whom the pastor recognized for the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews staring at the tablecloth. The pastor asked him why he wasn't leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth, because it was identical to one his wife had made many years ago in Austria. He knew there could be no two tablecloths that were so much alike.

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and how he was supposed to follow her. But he was arrested and put into prison. He never saw his wife or his home again.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a ride. They drove to Staten Island to the same house he had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment. He knocked on the door, and witnessed a true Christmas miracle, the reunion of man and wife after 35 years.

Submitted by Maureen Hurley

Merry Christmas

Contact Tom at: tomhughes@motivationNmore.com

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