Tell us a Christmas true story, and remember, Christmas is a lesson in humility.
emeraldATV
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I'm 19 or so, my mother started to introduce us to the recycled fake tree movement.
No-bout-a-dout-it, this ain't gonna happen, I thought to myself.
She was an RN at the local hospital, on the night shift.
Now is the time as the window of opptunity is open and the clock was ticking.
The fake tree, was flawless and large. I jumped in my car dashing all around town to find its natural twin. ( A real Pine tree)
After a few hours BINGO ! Trick is , it must match how she dressed it to keep the present a secret as long as possible.
The next day when I came home from work, she was waking up and stoped me and asked me if I smelled cat poop.
Mom, the cat is trained to go out side as is the dog, I replyed.
I couldn't hold back. Here our traditional tree and don't do it again, your confusing the pets.
"Merry Christmas".
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One morning last December, Bill McDonald read in the paper that a local man, Joe Smith, was sick with small-cell lung cancer. That meant Smith couldn’t assemble the magnificently lit, handcrafted Christmas displays that had made his house in Versailles, Indiana, an annual holiday pilgrimage site for as many as 95,000 people.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without Joe’s lights, thought McDonald. Somebody has got to help this guy, he decided.
The day had made his own quick decision 33 Christmases ago when he came home one afternoon from his job as an electrician and found his five-year-old grandson, Nicholas, waiting. “What do you want to do today?” Smith asked.
“Let’s build a reindeer, Papa,” Nicholas said. They fashioned one using wood from a fallen tree, then set it out on the lawn and lit up its cherry-red nose for the holidays.
Each year, Smith added to his handi-work, placing reindeer on a track above his roof and winding lights as if they were electric vines around his windows and doors. Eventually, thousands of lights, figures, mannequins, and models filled his yard and spilled into his sister’s property next door.
Then came December 2020. Smith’s cancer, diagnosed in March, had spread to his liver and spleen. After 19 rounds of chemotherapy and 43 radiation treatments, he was too tired and despondent to celebrate Christmas.
Until McDonald called.
“You don’t know me,” McDonald said, “but I want to help you get your lights up.” Through word of mouth, McDonald and his wife, Toni, enlisted the Knights of Columbus, the Masons, the Lions, local firefighters, friends, and strangers to set up Smith’s displays. For two days, more than 100 volunteers climbed in and around Smith’s house and yard, following his hand-drawn diagrams that showed where everything should go.
On the evening of December 12, with crowds of volunteers cheering him on, Smith flipped the switch and lit up the spectacle. “This is what the Lord wanted us to do,” says McDonald, “to pull together, and be together, and help one another.”
Smith's cancer is in remission, and he looks forward to Christmas 2020. “In their hearts,” Smith says, “people love to give.” He is confident that his brilliant displays will continue to light up the darkness for many years to come because Bill McDonald has promised that he’ll get the job done.
Another time as was old enough to help Santa, Mom said go check on your sister to be sure she's asleep.
So went up to peek in her room and she's wide awake with her head on the pillow, What, she says.
Picture this:
I'm standing facing her and to the right of me is a closed window, 1 foot away. Outside the window are a few trees
leaving just enough of a clearing to view our neighbor's hedges surrounding their home. Ok here go...
I said to my sister," Ya gotta get to sleep before Santa gets here" as I'm saying this I glanced out the window, and something was moving in front of the hedges. So took a look closer, and under the street light in front of the hedges is my neighbor ...IN A SANTA suite with a sack over his shoulder.
UM... Carol look over here and over there.
See, Now get to sleep, Now.
This the next day was confirmed.
Very Cool.
Here’s something true that is very recent:
A little more than a month ago, I commented to one of my neighbors (who apparently isn’t so bright),
“I see Christmas is on a Friday this year.”
And he replies, “I hope it’s not the 13th!”
My collecting “Pride & Joy” is my PCGS Registry Dansco 7070 Set:
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/design-type-sets/complete-dansco-7070-modified-type-set-1796-date/publishedset/213996
My perennial favorite Christmas story is in the form of a song..... 'Scarlet Ribbons'.... Have always loved that song. Cheers, RickO
True story way back when I was in my late 20s'. It was time to put up the Christmas tree (real one) and get it all decorated. Problem was I was sick as a dog with the flu. I was able to get the tree in the house and in it's tree stand. I wanted to participate as much as possible so I made a bed on the living room couch so I could at least watch my wife, daughter (7) and son (4) decorate the tree. Being the macho guy I was, I am really playing it up; moaning and groaning - "woe is me", etc. After an hour or so the tree is fully decorated and looked really beautiful. I am continuing with my moaning groaning and what not when my son comes over to me, leans his elbow on my stomach, puts his chin in his hand, looks at me, looks at the tree, looks back at me and says "Dad, I am really glad we got this tree up before you die." One I will never forget!
This is not a Christmas Story but a Thanksgiving Story (maybe that's close enough). Also this is not my story ... but instead this is from one of the regular poster on NGC’s Water Cooler forum. This poster’s forum name is Shadroch.
He wrote this story in 2010 about an experience he had on Thanksgiving Day eve in 1980.
It was Thanksgiving Eve, 1980.
I left Rochester, NY, with two of my fraternity brothers, armed with a thirty pack of Strohs,for the seven hour drive to Long Island. It was my senior year, and this time next year I anticipated being stationed in Korea as a newly commisioned Army Officer.
I got home just after dinner and after a quick bite and some time with my Mom was planning on hitting our local drinking establishment for what was then the busiest nite of the year when I was sucker-punched by the news that I had to drive into the city to drop off some turkeys for the poor at my Aunts convent on the upper West Side. It seems some salesman dropped off a turkey for each of the employees at our family business and we had about eight more than we needed.
No amount of pleading worked so there I was, driving in to NYC with a car loaded with turkeys while my friends were partying as only drunken college kids can do.
All the way in, I'm thinking get there by eight, out the door by eight-fifteen, I'm in McHebes by nine-thirty, ten at the latest.
Allow me to digress a moment and tell you something about my Aunt. She was my fathers sister and a bit flighty. In sixth grade, I recieved a German Shepard puppy for my confirmation and about three months later, she showed up and asked me if I would donate the dog to a poor family in her area that couldn't afford one. A year later, she suggested I give the dog up to be trained as a seeing eye dog. Needless to say, she wasn't all that high on my list of favorite Aunts.
So, I get to the Convent a few minutes behind schedule, and the novice who answers the door invites me in and tells me my Aunt is busy with someone but she'll be finished in a few minutes. I gave serious thought to just leaving the turkeys and going, but she was family and I was raised better than that.
About ten minutes goes by and she comes in. Everytime I've seen her since I was about twelve, she tells me I'm the spitting image of my now dead father and this is no exception. She asks about my mom and sisters and then tells me there is someone she wants me to meet. She says that there is couple in the next room and their son Sean just celebrated a birthday and had a huge party. It seems he was only allowed to keep three toys and the rest were being donated to the poor, which was why they were here. I walk into the room and see a chubby little boy with bangs, an older asian woman and John Lennon.
Holy mess, I think to myself- it's John Freaking Lennon!
To make an already long story a bit shorter, I spent the next three hours talking to Yoko Ono while John and Sean played together on the floor between us. I learned that she and my Aunt were friends since the early anti-war movement days, that my Aunt was featured in a Time article on the changing role of nuns in America and was shocked to know that Yoko knew I had been born in Japan, had a father that was career Army, and had just recently past away. John himself didn't say much, but I was shocked how he kept referring to his wife as "Mother". Eventually, Sean got real tired and they decided it was time to go. I offered them a ride but John said they loved to walk in NYC and it was only a few blocks. We shook hands, Yoko kissed me on the cheek and they left. As they were walking down the steps, John turned, re-positioned his sleeping son and flashed us a peace sign and smiled.
Two weeks later he was dead. Shot on the streets he loved to walk.
A memory to last a lifetime.
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I stopped for gas Saturday. Homeless guy was walking around without a shirt, taking on and off a very soiled hoody. He was not really bothering anyone. He went in and out of the store but without buying anything cause he had no money. He went over to the bus seat and sat down. It was a cool morning so I had taken my vintage weather proof insulated jacket, my favorite jacket. He was about the same size as I. I took it over to him and gave it to him along with some cash. He did not want to take the cash without doing some kind of work. I told him Merry Christmas and left. Merry Christmas, every day is a blessing.
Aaaaa, I had another one tonight, really cool.
In my travels doing my deliveries, I met a women who captured my attention, yes very hot.
Turns out she's working at the same medical center as my mother. We talked a while about the flu and the problems
created as she is in the thick of it. She seemed very concerned about her job, maybe too much.
I left that day, (2 weeks ago) with an uneasy feeling. Now, I'm single and on the prowl, So , I bought a bottle to her with a note, as she was putting up lawn figures for Christmas. She was shocked with a big smile.
I was in a hurry and left yes I'm shy. She yelled out do you like my frosty the snowman air filled thing.
I yelled out yes , he's my buddy.
Tonight she was on my list for a delivery. I've been driving around with Christmas music on, and as I pulled up to her building the Frosty The Snowman song came on when I got to her door, she was drinking the wine and wrapping gifts.
Just call me chicken.
Really though, ya just cant rush this sort of thing.
@emeraldATV ... Faint heart never won fair lady.... Someone said that long ago...but very true. Cheers, RickO
Found a Grinch coin !
What...? Come on Man !
NOEL * Not Novel
During my stint in the United States Air Force, I was ordered to take-on a short term Temporary Duty (TDY) assignment over the Christmas/New Years holidays (note the time period on the certificate). This was the first time that I would be away from family and friends during the holidays. My skill level and experience was required since no qualified NCO was available for deployment. The TDY assignment was with European Liaison Force One (ELF-One) Command, Saudi Arabia. Our squadron's Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircrafts were flying 24/7 air surveillance coverage in Saudi Arabia to monitor the Iraq and Iran war. I took-on the TDY assignment without hesitation.
At least I did get some currency and coins....