Share Your Christmas Decorations and Stories

[JustAPrepper]

I love Christmas decorations as much as the next guy/gal but this year Evolver and I chose not to decorate for a myriad of reasons. Times are really tough right now and we are scaling back big time so instead of pulling everything out and spending days decorating we opted to go with a simple tabletop tree where we could stash a few gifts and call it "good".

The one thing we are still going to do is something we did last year that touched us both. Me, in such a profound way, it still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it..and I'm not kidding. (Ive had to walk away from this post several times to clear my eyes and my thoughts.)

I've always donated food to one of our local shelters but last year I publicly pledged on another board to spend $100 from my own savings stash in order to feed twelve families of four and challenged others to do what they could to help those in need in their own communities. I could do it by shopping at Aldi's and posted my list along with pricing. Evolver didn't have a clue what I was up to but when he saw my post he matched my $100 and between the two of us we could feed 96 less fortunate people. The post roused little support from the membership but what support it did get I was thrilled about.

Our plan morphed over time, right up to and including the delivery, but the way it played out marked my soul for life. I will NEVER forget it and will continue it, in what ever capacity I can, for as long as I can. It was a morphing of my plan to deliver food to a specific shelter I had researched and Evolvers plan to play Secret Santa to homeless people that we have seen for years, but have never had direct contact with, and others who just migrate here because of our milder climate.

It's one thing to give a homeless person a buck who's panhandling on the corner. It is a completely life changing experience to give them a bag of food the day before Christmas, see the tears in their eyes of utmost gratitude and watch them literally run down the sidewalk to get to a safe place to eat. To honk your horn and flag down someone you see on a daily basis and have them skeptically and nervously accept your bag, only to realize what's inside and bless you in your rearview mirror for two blocks as you cruise down the street to the next recipient. When you hold in your arms a mother of two children who stood in line seven hours at the Toys For Tots giveaway only be turned away because they ran out gifts. The same mother who says she can't carry more than one bag of food but her young son of no more than nine says he can carry another because they have no food. When you come home with the front of your shirt soaked more from your own tears than the shoulder of your shirt that so many cried on.

So that's kind of our new tradition. And yes, I'm already wishing I would have decorated but I have lots of photo's and memories...Here's a few from last year...

---------> this is a youtube link but I have no idea why it's titled this way ------------------>

Kanal von JustAPrepper - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/JustAPrepper?feature=mhee)

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh140/Julie-Girl/TEMPORARY%20ALBUM%20FOR%20VIEWING/DSC02514.jpg

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh140/Julie-Girl/TEMPORARY%20ALBUM%20FOR%20VIEWING/DSC02516.jpg

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh140/Julie-Girl/TEMPORARY%20ALBUM%20FOR%20VIEWING/DSC02515.jpg


http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh140/Julie-Girl/TEMPORARY%20ALBUM%20FOR%20VIEWING/DSC02519.jpg

[Sniper-T]

I know there isn't many Canucks on this board, but if y'all add a little blue, it'll be appropriate for you, too.





The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So slumbered I, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Trooper, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."


"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died in Europe on a day in December,"
Then he sighed,

"That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red and the white ... A Canadian flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."


"So go back inside," he said, "harbour no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."


Would you do me the kind favour of sending this to as many people as you can?
Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
Canadian service men and women for our being able to celebrate
these festivities.
Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe.
Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed
themselves for us.