Dear friends,

This article was in a weekly paper that we pick up free at grocery stores etc. It is kinda long, so print it out and read it when you can while having coffee or just cuddled on the couch for a few minutes. It is a very heart-warming story, and this time of year I think we can all use a little heart warmer. Hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Jackie

http://www.theweeklyreporter.com/wr_news_121808_10.php

Jackie,
As soon as I started reading the article, I realized I had read it before. That didn't stop me from reading it again and just like the first time I read it, I started to choke up.
Wouldn't it be nice if everyone had a white envelope on their tree this year? What a great tradition.

Merry Christmas to all

I too had read this years ago but like you Joyce, I kept reading it again with tears streaming down my face.

Thanks for posting that Jackie. It's a good reminder of what this season should really be about.

Jackie....Thanks for posting this. A thought came to mind, for me this holiday season, that the best thing you can do, to feel better, if you have very little, or have had something, or someone taken away, was to give? So I tried it, and guess what, it works! I dug through my coat closet, and came up with a REALLY warm, and only worn once, heavy insulated jacket, with a hood, blue, with a red-plaid-flannel lining, and brought to the local Gym, where they are doing a food, clothing, coats, gloves, school supply, drive, for our local kids, big & small.

Yesterday, I change my mind and did attend my first "Habitat For Humanity" Home Dedication Ceremony, at the house I helped to build this summer! It was 24 below zero, so was hard preased to get anyone else to go, but go I did, and because I was early, I met one of the board members, and she asked me if I could video the dedication, so I did.

I think it is what kept me from crying, because they are a 'real' tear-jerker! Here is a photo I took, with members of two seperate families, that will & have moved into to this Duplex. One has six members, one is a single-mother & her Son. They are three bedroom, one bath, and their mortgages will run about $350.00 per month. My little condo is renting for $900.00 per month (if rented) so what a fantastic *gift* for these two families!

I love "Habitat For Humanity" and felt honored to finally 'work' with them.

What a great story, tradition. It would be really great if we could get back to the reason that we Christmas. It has gotten lost in the retail "blizzard".

Sky,
You've done some wonderful things for this holiday season that keeps the tradition of giving alive. So nice to hear stories as this.

Know that you are keeping someone warm this winter, by not only giving them a coat, but helping build a house for them.

Good Job!

Jackie

Jackie, I've never seen this before, it's beautiful.....I'm blubbering now, but that's okay!

You know, I wish I would have seen the "simple white envelope" sooner. Maybe next year, if any of us can remember, maybe all of us at ADcaregivers could start a "simple white envelope" from us as a group. I don't know how we can do it, or whom we could honor with that envelope, but we have a year to think about it. If we all put in just $5, we could make someones Christmas a little happier.

Getting back to those toothpicks, about 20 years ago, I stepped on one. It was actually standing up on my carpet, and I didn't see it. That darn thing went right into my foot. I pulled it out, and of course the very little tip of it stayed in my foot.

I went to the doctor as it hurt so bad. He told me there was nothing in there, but I could feel something in there everytime I walked. To make a long story short, about a week later that darn thing festered in my foot, and I got a really bad infection. I went again to the doctor, he gave me a numbing shot (oh was that fun) put a small cut in it, and squeezed that gunk out of there, and out popped that tip of the toothpick. Up in the air and down to the floor. I was sitting up when he did this. It was actually comical.

For the unbelievers, which one of them was my husband, I kept the tip of that toothpick, and to this day have it in a tiny little jar.

So needless to say, when I see a toothpick on the floor I think of that one in my foot, and make sure it gets picked up right away. So be careful with those toothpicks. They can be lethal!!!

Jackie

Great idea Jackie but which one of us is going to remember?

Lori,

Heck if I know! Guess we'll wing it and see. Most of us have caregivers dementia, so it'll be up in the air until next year. The only one's that really have a chance of remembering is Aitan or Jezza. They are both much younger, and have more of a chance of not forgetting as we have (well I do anyway) age in the way. Their younger brains have got to remember more than us.

Jackie

I'm pretty good at remembering.


WHAT AM I GOING TO REMEMBER? OH, I REMEMBER.