Lary Ellis (Top)

<br><br>Hey Gonzo, No fancy dinners aboard but you can warm some weiners on the grill. You are welcome to take her on my boat, Not alaska but maybe the 3rd week of January you would think it was brrrrrrrrrrrr. ;D<br><br>Top's travel agency has a nice ring to it ;D

NWDave

Gonzo, I'd be careful about accepting a boat ride from Top. Maybe he just wants us to think he's retired. Maybe he has a boat special to say, the middle east? Combat Engineers should know better. Once a Top, always a Top. ;D ;D<br><br>We started a Christmas Tradition back many years ago. At most Air Bases, the base Chapel would have a giving tree set up in the lobby with tags for presents needed for a specific child. It would say, age and boy or girl. Our Senior NCO councils would ensure that nary a tag was left unfilled. It was never difficult to accomplish that task. That giving tree has found many new homes around the holidays, but we manage to find them and grab a dozen tags or so and do our small share. Now, when our grandson comes to visit around the holidays, he always has enough money saved up so he can &quot;fill a tag&quot;. We also actively support the Marine Corps Toy's for Tots programs. There's so much that can be done to return the joy of Christmas back into your lives. You already try to ignore the commercialism of the holidays (COSTCO has christmas items in the aisles already, absurb) Use to be very poor form to do that prior to Thanksgiving. We can't change the world but we sure can bring joy and help to those less fortunate than us who live in our communities. I've always been upset with the way we can send billions of dollars overseas just to buy a few friends but can't see our way clear to help those here at home. Everyone seems to have an agenda. The spirit of the holidays shouldn't be lost amongst all the commerialism that exists. With our big, fancy trucks, many of which are 4x4, how many of us volunteer our time to 4x4 Search and Rescue units or the Red Cross during times of need. A few years ago, we had an unusually severe snowstorm that left much of the city without use of the roads. A few of us in our little neighborhood checked on the elderly in our area to make sure they were well and needed nothing. Prescriptions needed filling. Groceries needed getting. In one instance, we needed to get some heating fuel to one family. Our 4x4's helped where regular cars just floundered. The snow was just too deep. That's what Christmas is about, giving and helping in whatever way possible. Sure, we exchange gifts but we also take the time to give to those less fortunate. This year, there will be a greater need. That's what's on my Christmas list. Time to put away my soap box.

95ramtough

I am only 19 and feel old when reading this. (agreeing with everything said of course) Don't get me wrong, I loved getting my occasional shotgun for chirstmas, or a new bike. My parents made me give the bike away when they got me a new one after it was outgrown. If I got a new toy I would always have to donate an old one, it taught me to enjoy giving, and how to enjoy seeing other people smile at a young age. I see so many of my friends that have still not learned this. What goes around comes around. I must say though, I enjoy hunting over chirstmas vacation more than anything. Different families celebrate it differently, my family spends time in the outdoors in the freezing A$$, snowy cold weather. mmmm turkey... lol

Lary Ellis (Top)

[quote author=NWDave link=board=10;threadid=5571;start=15#49023 date=1033855874]<br>Gonzo, I'd be careful about accepting a boat ride from Top. Maybe he just wants us to think he's retired. Maybe he has a boat special to say, the middle east? Combat Engineers should know better. Once a Top, always a Top. ;D ;D <br>[/quote]<br><br>Why Dave whatever do you mean? : Here sign this and don't bother reading it, just a short vaction in a beautiful mountainous region with lots of cave exploring ;D<br><br>I am not saying that us vets have a better handle on Christmas, but having been in places where the people are fortunate just to eat once a week. You do tend to see how truly important it is that we help each other through life and not just during the holidays.<br><br>What may seem like a small gesture on your part, can have a very big impact on someone elses life. Small world we live in and each of us can make it better with a little effort.

pwabbott

I was a great depression child. The first Christmas I can remember each of my brother and I each had one wrapped present under the tree. We were a family which had the security of devoted parents. We lived in No. Idaho in the late thirties and most of the food on the table was grown in our garden. Mom would bake bread in a wood burning kitchen stove. Saturday night was bath night with water heated on the wood stove in the kitchen. The toilet was a one holer about thirty feet out from the kitchen door. Everyone in the community was poor. Dad's salary was just enough to put gas in his ten year old Chebby. When it broke down all the neighbors came by to help fix it.

At Christmas neighbors would share their produce which had been grown in their gardens and canned in their kitchens. The men would go hunting to put meat on the Christmas dinner tables. No one went without.

Contrast that with what I see in many homes where the children receive so many presents all they have time to do is tear open the packages, then go to the next one not taking time to appreciate what they have received. Since this is the type of Christmas my wife's nieces celebrate with their families I must endure this silently every couple of years. It is a depressing experience, materialism in excess. No true expression of love is there. Almost every Christmas I have seen some family member angry or their feelings hurt because someone said the wrong thing or didn't select the right gift.
What happened to the spirit of giving not expecting to receive in return? We have lost so much of our great American Heritage to creeping materialism.

I don't need the best of everything to be happy. I can be satisfied with a whole lot less than I have.

chuck3

Amen to that Phil.

DPG

Gonzo:<br><br>It sounds like our mothers are related ;D I don't know about yours, but mine can always find a way to put a real damper on any family gathering. Always makes the holidays a treat. I'm with Jack when it comes to the real meaning of Christmas. Our kids never got gifts from &quot;Santa.&quot; They were always told where the gifts came from, and the reason for the tradition of gift giving. And we were always careful to not be too generous. Gift opening time always took quite a while, because our kids would open one, and then want to play with it for a while before going on to another. Being a music teacher, the holiday season is always a really busy one because of all the concerts that I have to conduct. I think that I'll enjoy the holidays more once I am able to retire.

98rammer

oh man. my family has always been fighting, now it's just getting worse. no one is talking to others, lying, crazy people (literally), etc. *sigh*

Shovelhead

Phil I too have become jaded with the &quot;Christmas Spirit&quot;.<br>However Wifey has taken me to Peru for the holidays to see her relatives, and I can assure you the &quot;Old Time Spirit&quot; is alive and well in other parts of the world.<br>To see the joy in a child's eyes over a small toy, or a small bag of hard candy is a sight to behold.<br>I've seen kid's here throw a tantrum 'cuz someone bought the wrong color of Power Ranger, or didn't get the correct version of the latest video game.<br>I love Christmas in Peru, it reminds me of simpler times in my own childhood.

pwabbott

It is no wonder that the suicide rate goes up at the holidays. I believe people are reminded they have lost something precious and feel hopeless, powerless to get the old values back. As a result they even become more materialistic.

I have always hated making up gift lists. Why? It seems to me it is a want list. If someone dear to me really knows me they will know what would please me. As it is I often receive gifts which I know are exactly what the giver would like to receive.
At least I know who is at the top of the list for borrowing that item. That kind of gift never has much value to me. I would rather receive something simple, inexpensive that I could treasure, a selection made because the giver knew me and therefore knew the gift would be appreciated.

The greatest gift of all is the giving of oneself in true friendship.

DeaconWayne

Hey, Guys,<br><br>Another way is the Christmas Shoeboxes with Franklin Graham. He (his organization) takes them to other less fortunate countries all around the globe and gives them to the kids there. You can get small gifts like gloves, combs, toothbrushes, small non-war-type toys, crayons, books, and things like that and put it in a shoebox (plastic or cardboard) and give it to one of the churches in your area that's collecting these boxes. They will make sure it gets on to the proper collection point. We've done two boxes each year for the past two years (one for a boy and one for a girl). It really warms your heart when you see a video showing these kids getting these boxes (not necessarily yours) and the sparkle in their eyes knowing they've not been forgotten. The boxes go to all countries - last year there were many that went to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the old Yugoslavian areas. It's a lot of fun shopping for someone you'll probably never see and will probably never hear from, but just getting to do it makes it all worth while. Another program is the Angel Tree - where you take an Angel from the church Christmas tree that has the name of a child whose mom or dad is in a prison/jail andyou buy the item the child has asked for, wrap it, and it's given to the child in his dad's/mom's name. This way, these kids aren't forgotten either. <br>Makes me all teary-eyed just thinking about it.

NWDave

What Deacon said!!! Hey, that makes two retired wing nuts for sure!!

Lary Ellis (Top)

[quote author=NWDave link=board=10;threadid=5571;start=15#49618 date=1034040874]<br>What Deacon said!!! Hey, that makes two retired wing nuts for sure!! <br>[/quote]<br>This doesn't mean I have to learn the Air Force hymn does it? ;D<br>Oh wait with you I have to know a couple bars of Anchors Aweigh as well