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**lushy** · December 21, 2006, 10:23 PM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

The happiest of Holidays to you as well Chrysa. That is one of my favorite versions of that song. We do have quite the bond here, above and beyond our drinking issues. Thanks for posting that. And I look forward to us all achieving what we set out for our lives in this new year......XOOXOXO

**lucky 2.0** · December 21, 2006, 10:52 PM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Dear Chrysa,

That was just the best! I love the phrase "where trouble melts like lemon drops". I wish that for all here. Thanks for the terrific post and link.

xoxoxoxo.
lucky

C · December 21, 2006, 10:52 PM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Dear Lush,
Thank you!!!. Merry Christmas to you & your family. I just found this in my email box. So sweet & good. You will love it. Reminds me a little of growing up in a small town. There are bad memories but then there are ones like this!!! It's all about giving. Hope my kids got that!
Free Hug to you Lush!!

I feel blessed that I may finally be in a Christmas kind of spirit. Rough year ... but a year!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************
I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid.
I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true. Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm.
Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go."
"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous, cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars($10.00.) That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car."
Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's. I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten- dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.
I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs.Pollock's grade-two class.
Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter.His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough, and he didn't have a coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.
"Yes," I replied shyly. "It's .... for Bobby." The nice lady smiled at me. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas. That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it -- Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy.
Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers. Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded on his door, and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.
Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open.
Finally it did, and there stood Bobby. Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes.
That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.
I still have the Bible, with the tag tucked inside: $19.95
He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find Christmas under a tree.
Author Unknown

The Story behind the Original "Santa Claus"

"Santa" is the Latin word for "Saint" and "Claus" is the nickname for Nicholas. Thus Santa Claus was a real person in Saint Nicholas.
Nicholas was born around 270AD near Myra in present day Turkey into a very wealthy family and inherited a great deal of money. Rather than living the life of leisure, Nicholas chose to become a Christian monk and gave his life and riches to help the poor. He chose to do it secretly.
A poor member of his parish had three daughters. He would have never been able to provide a dowry which was customary in those days and therefore his daughters would have been confined to a life of poverty.
On the days when the dowry was due for the first and second daughter, Nicholas secretly tossed the amount needed through an open window. The father though grateful, wanted to know where the money was coming from.When it was time to pay for the third daughter, the father closed the windows and waited outside to see who the benefactor was.
Tradition has it that his pastor, Nicholas, found the windows closed and tossed a bag of gold into the chimney, causing it to land in the girl's stockings that were drying by the fire. (This is where we get the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings.)
When the father approached Nicholas thanking him for his generosity and kindness, the priest simply asked that he keep it a secret. It didn't work, and the story became well known. From then on, whenever acts of kindness were secretly performed, people said, "Saint Nicholas must have done it".
And now you know the rest of the story.

**Cashregister** · December 21, 2006, 10:54 PM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Dear Chrysa,

I look forward to getting to know you more in the New year. Have a marvellous Christmas

Lotsa Love

Cashy
xxx

C · December 21, 2006, 10:58 PM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Dear Lucky,
Yes.. and "the dreams that you dream of really do come true..."

Much Love to you. Merry Christmas to you and those you love. C

C · December 21, 2006, 11:00 PM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Ditto Chashy -- You wonderful and "forgiving" soul!! Thank you so much for that

Merry Christmas!! C

**tawnyfrog** · December 21, 2006, 11:07 PM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Dear Chrysa,

Sending Christmas sunshine and warmth all the way back to you.

Tawny

C · December 21, 2006, 11:26 PM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

ohNo OH no ohNo-- my favoritist witchie UpperDarby

My Dear YoungAtHeart/UpperDarby/Kathy,

Just jumped out of the bathtub realizing I had slipped up & not had you on my listies the second time when I had to re-post. What in the world?? Was I not thinking!?

Merry Christmas Kathy to Maddy & your Sister. You are our rock!!!

Luv, C

**InnerStrength** · December 21, 2006, 11:35 PM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Happy holidays to you Chrys
And to all
Love Jen

**soccermom** · December 22, 2006, 12:27 AM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

C--I loved this..I am not a "hugger" but I want to hug each and every one of you...as you are all so special to me. Merry Christmas to you.
sm-mary

**betty boop** · December 22, 2006, 04:34 AM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Hi Chrysalis

Thanks so much for sharing that, it made me cry too.

Have a lovely Christmas

Paula :l :h :l

**Waves 2** · December 22, 2006, 06:10 AM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Thanks Chrysalis, it's nice to be thought of and remembered. xxx:l

Merry Christmas to everyone.:l

**YoungAtHeart** · December 22, 2006, 08:38 AM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

Dear Chrysa (and all)

I'm honored to be considered one of your "witchies"! Thank you for pasting the video into the post; it brought tears to my eyes. It's easy to see that that little hug probably made many people smile all day long.

I'm going to get out my crystal cauldron and start thinking up a potion specially for you in the new year. For starters, five parts joy, three parts self-love, four parts confidence, a packet of my secret herbs, hmmm....I'll have to think about the rest, but that's a start.

Have a blessed Christmas with your family, dear Chrysa!

Hugs,
Kathy:l

C · December 22, 2006, 11:50 AM

Happy Holidays Friends!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS JENNEH!
I have been following you. And I find you to be an amazing person. Youhave achieved success that many others have not. Had you on first post/lost post. I am sure I forgot so many others 2nd time around.

Have a great holiday! Luv, C

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