longprime I don't go to garage sales, nor Ebay, I go to Habitat for Humanity, GoodWill, Salvation Army consignment stores. Online, I go to sites like http://www.notyourmothersestatesale.com/ where the families/NP organizations get 75% of their money back.
They give back, and 100% of that money goes back to those in need.
We can never give every child or family what they REALLY want. Bullet and his siblings, our children want their grandmother back, but it won't happen. However, we can give them silly things we take for granted.
A Turkey for Xmas day with all of the trimmings.
A Harry Potter DVD or book
An old artificial tree...instead of donating to Good Will.
As I said I just came back from NJ. Driving up the NJTPKE the amount of convoys from other states (electrical and communications) going southbound was insane.
As a Catholic we have in our church a wishing tree. It is paper ornaments stating an age of the child, the size of their clothing, they don't ask for LEGO's or a Wii game. If you are not Catholic, you can still enter the church and take the ornament. You wrap the present and put it under the tree...the tree is in the vestibule, not in the church itself.
I am mailing to my Mom in NJ gifts. I will attach on the package the item...i.e. barbie doll, UNO, Dominoes, Bath Towels, etc. Let the Church decide.
I can't give them a home, I can't give them what they REALLY want. What I can give them is the belief that they are loved by strangers. That is the magic of XMAS. That will be in their hearts until the day they depart this world.
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Raising a teenager is like nailing Jello to a tree
Socks, underwear, and some candy, and boxes of navel oranges. I feel asleep with the Sears Xmas catalog. Never got what I dreamed for in the way of toys.
longprime, don't you remember being 4, 5,6, or 10?
I feel like you missed the mark in my point. The point is we are not doing enough. So what if our society has become materialistic, good can still come out of this; we can teach our youth that when they write Dear Santa to take one off of their list and ask Santa to deliver that gift to someone less fortunate.
Christmas is the season of giving. These kids are not "SO EASILY BOUGHT", they just believe in the magic of Xmas.
They have endured pain, at a young age, all they have left is hope. Don't confuse the two..Your kids got bike at 4, I am sure most of them will be asking for a gift none of us can give...their old home.
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Raising a teenager is like nailing Jello to a tree
I just got back from NJ after sitting Shiva for Bullet's Mom since Tuesday.
I don't know whether it was FEMA or Christie, but the one thing I will give hats off to and ovation is their decision regarding Ft. Monmouth. Ft. Monmouth in the very latest BRAC was closed. It is an Army Post. They have all types of base housing on the post. It ranges from dorms to apts to 3, and 4 bedroom houses. They also have on post hotels.
They were closed down, and decided to take them out of the mothballs and re-open all of their housing. It is probably a small amount, maybe 1500 families will be served. However, 1500 families is better than 0 families. They are doing a lottery to get these homes.
Bullet's Aunts/Uncles live in NY and PA, they wanted to stay, but there were no hotel rooms available. 1 got 1 night (Weds) at Howard Johnson in Manchester (Lakewood/Spring Lake Area). They are affluent, and I think in their 78 yrs of life the lowest level hotel they stayed at was Hilton. His aunt said that when they were having their continental breakfast it was depressing.
There are parents that still are paying the stay on their charge cards, and Thanksgiving/Xmas is around the corner. They have children who believe in Santa, and they were trying to figure out how to give them hope and belief that Santa exists.
It hit her to her core, that tens of thousands of kids come Xmas morning will no longer believe in Santa and lose their innocence because we aren't doing enough!
Back to the Ft. Monmouth housing lottery issue, I hope developers and companies can see how this post is a great asset. It will cost a few pennies to update, but on every military installation you have different types of housing, you have a dept store, a grocery store, a gas station, a child care center, a gym, a library, bowling alley, movie theater, baseball and soccer field, a hospital, buildings set up for companies...and it is gated. I don't know if Monmouth had a school on post.
Back in the 90's a couple of the AF bases that were closes, were purchased by developers and advertised as an adult community for flying enthusiasts. They reno'd the homes and sold out quickly because there was a runway for them, but they also were smart enough to lease out the other assets to companies. The developers made small fortunes. The govt got to clear off the costs quickly.
I am saying this because can you imagine the boom it would bring to Monmouth if the Fed/State/developers now see it as a development? The employment opportunities would be insane.
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Raising a teenager is like nailing Jello to a tree
"There are parents that still are paying the stay on their charge cards, and Thanksgiving/Xmas is around the corner. They have children who believe in Santa, and they were trying to figure out how to give them hope and belief that Santa exists.
It hit her to her core, that tens of thousands of kids come Xmas morning will no longer believe in Santa and lose their innocence because we aren't doing enough! "
Your Mom is sensitive, however, Is Santa and the Holidays so material that there must be presents. And are children's hearts are so easily bought?
Disclosure: dS never got throwaway toys. Best presents from us were at XMas, building blocks at 2, bicycle at 4, and a computer at 12. He had big gifts by being able to visit relatives in far places, and a mostly paid for college.
-- Edited by longprime on Friday 16th of November 2012 10:43:49 AM
W did make it a Kodak moment by congradulating FEMA, "Way to go, ...." Sad, in that FEMA said that the storm was gonna be real bad. but state-local officials and higher federal people ignored warnings.
Did PBO say anything other than tell the affected area/populaces to listen to your Local and State Officials? I think for the most part, people did listen. And of course when you have an older infrastructure and high density areas next to the seashore, you're gonna get some weather.
Citizens got to take ownership of their actions and lack of common sense. Property and Flood Insurance just got more expensive. Those homes that got burned out, got lucky and will be made whole.
Sure....when the Dems are in ownership of the presidency and something goes wrong, it's the states and localities fault. When the Republican's are, it's all Bushes fault. Makes sense.
Where's all the moral outrage over the failure of the National Government to help all the people who are still without basic food and shelter after a natural disaster?
Oh yeah. It's the Jersey Shore. Those people mostly white. Silly me.
As Rosanne Rosanadana used to say, "Never mind."
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It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” – Mark Twain
