Monday, December 12, 2005 8:13 PM CST
Visit this link: Relay For Life
to learn about a Relay for Life fundraiser. You can buy a ticket to try to win the Dave bear!
Also, all locals note:
Timm Johnson, a young man from our church, has organized his civics project around a concert to benefit brain cancer research! What a kid! The concert will be
Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 pm at Sager Middle School in College Place, WA.
If you live near here, please try to come!
Okay, onto Secret Santa, but first a Dave story. I told this one to Darlene over lunch today (thank you, Darlene...what a wonderful gift. I love you!) and I told her I was going to get it up on the site, so here it is.
Every year we decorate the tree together. The first Christmas Dave and I spent together, we had a Christmas branch instead of a tree, and we stuck it in a cardboard box and made ornaments out of construction paper. We had no real ornaments and no real money, either. He decided then that we should start a tradition when we had children of getting them an ornament each Christmas, so that when they left home and had their own trees, they'd have at least 18 ornaments to put on it!
So a favorite part of Christmas is pulling out the ornaments and remembering that year...Zach's Harry Potter from the year he read the book and became obsessed. Kenny's Tigger with Soccer Ball ornament from the year he first played soccer. Kate's orange kitten ornament from the year we got Macky.
So I asked the kids, "Do you know which ornament is your Dad's very favorite?"
Zach's guess: "The guitar one that Erik got him."
Kenny's guess: "The Yoda ornament."
Kate's guess: "The mom and dad beavers trying to string the lights."
Wrong. It was McIllvaigh Man. What is a McIllvaigh man, you ask? Well, it is the absolute ugliest ornament on our tree. See?
But Dave loved this ornament. It's a little like the Velveteen Rabbit, it looks worn and shabby. I remember it looking like that when it arrived, however. Every year, Dave would hang it front and center. And I would move it to the back of the tree.
See, one of Dave's students gave him that ornament when he taught sixth grade at McIllvaigh. McIllvaigh was a school that was in a gang-infested, poverty-stricken area of Tacoma. And one of these kids, I wish I could remember which one, gave him this ornament. It's his favorite.
So, we hung it on the front of the tree. I looked at it...and decided to move it to the back, where it always was. Sometimes it's the things you can't see that matter the most. I think Dave would approve.
Tonight's Secret Santa:
On the sixth day of Christmas
the geese are all on strike.
We hope you enjoy these almonds
(Perhaps on a hike?)
And a lovely bag with red and green jordan almonds, chocolate covered almonds and butter toffee almonds. Yum!
Blessings to you all.
Love, Chelle
Visit this link: Relay For Life
to learn about a Relay for Life fundraiser. You can buy a ticket to try to win the Dave bear!
Also, all locals note:
Timm Johnson, a young man from our church, has organized his civics project around a concert to benefit brain cancer research! What a kid! The concert will be
Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 pm at Sager Middle School in College Place, WA.
If you live near here, please try to come!
Okay, onto Secret Santa, but first a Dave story. I told this one to Darlene over lunch today (thank you, Darlene...what a wonderful gift. I love you!) and I told her I was going to get it up on the site, so here it is.
Every year we decorate the tree together. The first Christmas Dave and I spent together, we had a Christmas branch instead of a tree, and we stuck it in a cardboard box and made ornaments out of construction paper. We had no real ornaments and no real money, either. He decided then that we should start a tradition when we had children of getting them an ornament each Christmas, so that when they left home and had their own trees, they'd have at least 18 ornaments to put on it!
So a favorite part of Christmas is pulling out the ornaments and remembering that year...Zach's Harry Potter from the year he read the book and became obsessed. Kenny's Tigger with Soccer Ball ornament from the year he first played soccer. Kate's orange kitten ornament from the year we got Macky.
So I asked the kids, "Do you know which ornament is your Dad's very favorite?"
Zach's guess: "The guitar one that Erik got him."
Kenny's guess: "The Yoda ornament."
Kate's guess: "The mom and dad beavers trying to string the lights."
Wrong. It was McIllvaigh Man. What is a McIllvaigh man, you ask? Well, it is the absolute ugliest ornament on our tree. See?
But Dave loved this ornament. It's a little like the Velveteen Rabbit, it looks worn and shabby. I remember it looking like that when it arrived, however. Every year, Dave would hang it front and center. And I would move it to the back of the tree.
See, one of Dave's students gave him that ornament when he taught sixth grade at McIllvaigh. McIllvaigh was a school that was in a gang-infested, poverty-stricken area of Tacoma. And one of these kids, I wish I could remember which one, gave him this ornament. It's his favorite.
So, we hung it on the front of the tree. I looked at it...and decided to move it to the back, where it always was. Sometimes it's the things you can't see that matter the most. I think Dave would approve.
Tonight's Secret Santa:
On the sixth day of Christmas
the geese are all on strike.
We hope you enjoy these almonds
(Perhaps on a hike?)
And a lovely bag with red and green jordan almonds, chocolate covered almonds and butter toffee almonds. Yum!
Blessings to you all.
Love, Chelle
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