STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Christmas Contest? 

Dec 10, 2005? 

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Today??™s Announcements:

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? As promised today we begin the Christmas Contest.?  We will start the contest of with submissions by our chief writer, Sharon Bryant.?  I will not include the names of the writers each day as I have done in the past.?  Instead at the end of the contest I will send out a special email with all the submissions and writers accordingly.? 

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Now on to the good stuff..........

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Today's Christmas Contest Stories
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? It's Christmas

? Sharon Bryant

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It was so cold that December day.?  Snow was coming down rapidly? in large flakes.?  ? I wrapped my scarf tighter around my neck.?  I was so glad I had lined gloves to wear.?  I had my leg warmers on, warmly tucked inside my snow boots.

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"You sure you're going to be able to take it?" the police officer asked me.?  "Yes, I can take it," I replied.

"It's going to get worse when the sun starts to go down, we don't want you getting sick," he stated.?  "I'm ok, I dressed warmly," I said.

We all met at the Chamber of Commerce building.?  I was handed a plastic milk jug with the words, "No child without a Christmas" written on it.?  I knew what I had to do, and because I believed in the cause, I volunteered my time to help my town and the families who lived in it that were having tough times.

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The parade started and I followed the parade route.?  People began dropping coins and bills into the milk jug I carried.?  It began to snow? more heavily, and I again tightened my scarf around my neck.?  I walked a good two miles that day, my feet about half frozen, but still......it was worth the cause.

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When the parade ended, I went back to the Chamber building.?  My milk jug was dumped onto a table and a team counting the jug money, smiled at me and said, "You did good!"?  I'd brought in over $250.00.?  There were several of us, but most were the police department.?  They laughed and said I'd brought in almost as much as they did in their individual? jugs and I didn't have a uniform on.?  I went home.

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An hour later my phone rang and it was the President of the group who was helping folks in our town.?  "Do you think you and your husband could give us a hand down at the fire hall tonight and all week?" he asked.?  "Sure," I said.?  For the next week, my husband and I stacked and sorted thousands of canned goods.?  I sorted clothing.?  We sorted toys. We had rows and rows of peas, corn, beans, tomatoes, macaroni and cheese boxes, cereal, flour, sugar and many more items.?  We had boxes to fill and plenty of them.

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I was asked if I could go with another person from the organization and help buy Christmas toys and things for families.?  I said sure.?  I will never forget that night.?  We took a crew with us and had twenty-six shopping carts filled with toys, perfumes, clothing, coats, hats, mittens and so many other things.?  We had a check with us in the amount of $3600.00 to spend on families.?  We had been given the number of people in the household and their ages and sex, and that's how we shopped.?  And always, there was something for mom and dad.

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You see, many of these families were poor.?  Very poor.?  They were working mom's or dad's who had hit hardships that year and couldn't afford a Christmas for their children.?  We made sure each and everyone of those kids got something from Santa.?  What a site we were in the store with all the shopping carts filled.?  I had Barbie dolls in one of my carts.?  Another had winter coats, another had blue jeans, and so on.

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I will always remember an elderly lady named Mildred.?  Widowed, she lived alone at the age of 83.?  I was asked if I could deliver her gift to her. ?  I was handed an address and told what day to deliver.

It was once again snowing that day when I started out for Mildred's house.?  I passed some real nice homes, and then the neighborhood began to dwindle down to small houses, houses that needed repairs.?  I found the address on the mailbox, then got out of my car and walked up to the door.?  I rang the bell.?  Mildred opened the door.

"Hi," I said.?  "I'm one of Santa's helpers and Santa wanted me to deliver something to you this year."?  She just stared at me.?  I said, "Is that ok with you?"?  She looked at me, her eyes turning watery and said, "I haven't had a gift in years, who would give me something now?"?  "Oh, you never know what the Elves are up to, and I've been asked to deliver a box to you."?  I turned and said, "I'll be right back."

I went to my car and lifted the heavy box out.?  She was still standing in the doorway when I walked back up her sidewalk.?  "Can I come in with this?" I asked.?  She opened the door wider for me and softly said, "Yes."

"Where would you like me to put the box?" I asked.?  "In the kitchen," she replied.?  And that is where I sat it down on an old wooden table.?  I opened the box and told her she needed to get some things in her refrigerator.

She watched as I opened the box.?  The first item was a ham.?  Her eyes opened wider and she put both her hands up to her face and said, "Oh MY!"?  I pulled out celery, carrots, onions, potatoes, can goods.?  She began to cry.?  "Now, now, don't you go getting upset," I said.?  "I've got one more box for you."?  I went back to my car and brought in the second box.?  I set it on the table and told her to open it.?  I watched as she lifted the cardboard flaps.?  She broke out sobbing.?  "How could you know I didn't have a winter coat this year?"?  "How did you know I didn't have any boots to wear?"?  I hugged her and said,? ? "It's Christmas, and Santa knows EVERYTHING."

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For two days I delivered boxes like that to houses.?  Houses with people who were bedridden with cancer or heart trouble.?  It breaks your heart so see a family so down, so ill, and children who have so little.?  But due to the wonderful organization in Michigan called the GOODFELLOWS, we made sure that year that 381 families were helped.

I got more hugs that year than ever before.?  And since I love doing things like that for Christmas for anyone who really needs help, it lifts my spirits to be able to be a part of the giving to others.

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My mom used to bring home Air Force guys from our local base every Christmas just so some of the boys would have a good hot meal as she always said.?  Dad and mom always made sure no one elderly in our neighborhood went without a Christmas dinner.?  And naturally, since this was always something in my life, when I was little, I tagged along.?  When I got big enough to help, I pitched in.?  And today........I still do it.

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There is nothing on this earth more rewarding than to know you have touched a life.?  And what more beautiful time of the year than Christmas.

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Merry Christmas everyone,

Sharon Bryant

1946 @bellsouth.net

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~**~**~? 

The Hearts of Christmas

Sharon Bryant

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Today I once again witnessed the love from so many.?  I received two more big boxes from two schools........letters and handmade cards to our troops.?  I have sat all evening reading them and admiring the imagination of each child with the pictures they have drawn.

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Yet, it's what they have written that showed me how much love there is in our country.?  So many of the elementary kids have dads, brothers, uncles and aunts overseas.?  One child asked the soldiers to please hunt his dad down and give him a hug for Christmas, and I quote:?  "Please tell him it's from me."

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As I read each card, I felt something deep inside.?  For? almost all ? cards? have the words? Merry CHRISTMAS on them.?  Some kids have drawn angels to protect the troops, some drew pictures of Jesus on the Cross, reminding the troops that He is always there.?  And each child said God Bless You.

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The atheists try and take so much of this from our adult world, but when you see, third, fourth, and fifth graders writing talking about God and Jesus, you see the hearts of Christmas.? 

One little girl wrote and said she was so sad when her daddy was over in Baghdad last year, so she knows how sad the soldiers are to be there, away from their families.?  She then said how much it meant to her the day her daddy came home for good.

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And for me.......from the years I spent with a military man during Viet Nam, never forgetting the separations, the loneliness, the fear, the hard times, my heart always goes out to troops when they are far from home.? 

I also remember how the public began to change? towards the troops during Viet Nam.?  Today, that memory hit home when a woman told a friend of mine that I was not a good person for supporting these troops, that these troops are creating major problems for us back home.?  My friend offered her own two-cents, then explained to the woman, who didn't understand, that troops don't have a say so as to where they are sent.?  It made me wonder how many out there do not understand the military, orders, and that a soldier has no say so of where he is stationed.

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But.....I wanted to tell you about one school today that came in with over 300 cards for the troops.?  The principle is a Veteran.?  He has cleared a large cork board in one hallway and it is set up for letters from troops who receive cards from his school.?  I am told the kids are so excited to think that a soldier would write them back.?  It touched me that a school would do this, and that a whole school is waiting.?  Trust me, that school WILL be hearing from some troops.?  I have some magic dust that I sometimes sprinkle and make contacts with, so I know their hopes of hearing from a soldier will be fulfilled.

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I myself get heart tugs when I read the letters the kids write.?  The drawings are spectacular for those so young.?  The messages sent comes from their hearts.?  And that is what our troops will be getting in about two more weeks when they open the boxes.

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I can't think of a better way than to have a child write a letter to a soldier.?  And it grabs your heart to read a letter to another soldier from a child whose dad is over there now and won't be coming home for Christmas.?  One little girl told the soldiers all she wants for Christmas is to have her daddy come home and be with her and her baby brother and mom.? 

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And I want to thank all who have emailed me thanking me for doing this.?  I had to do this.?  I am an American.?  These are my troops, your troops, our troops.?  They need us.?  And we sure need them.

God Bless,

Sharon Bryant

Operation We Care

? Sharon Bryant

1946 @bellsouth.net

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Jingle Bells

Sharon Bryant

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We all know the song, "Jingle Bells."?  We sang it as children ourselves, we watched our children sing it......but one year I? heard it? in a way that I will never forget.

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It was just a few days before Christmas.?  I was at Children's Hospital making my rounds in each room, giving the kids a stuffed animal.?  There were two television stations with me.

As we went to enter this one room, my hospital guide put her fingers to her lips and whispered, "Terminal cancer, age four, he doesn't have much time left."

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I tried to find my best smile as I entered the doorway with the cameras behind me.?  Sitting in a chair in a corner was the little boy's mom.?  On the hospital bed laid the cutest little guy you could imagine.?  Big brown eyes, thick brown hair, and tiny frail arms and legs.?  I walked up to his bed and said, "I've got something for you for Christmas."?  He tried to smile, and I bent over to let him show me which one of the stuffed animals I had in my arms that he would like.?  He touched a cute little teddy bear.

The cameras were rolling when he looked at me and whispered, "Can you sing Jingle Bells to me?"

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I looked at his mom who by this time had tears sliding down her cheeks.? ?  She nodded her head yes.?  I turned to the two camera guys and the two news anchormen and I said, "Ok guys, we're going to sing Jingle Bells."

I began......."Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells," as the others joined in.?  Suddenly one voice faded out and I turned and he had disappeared out of the room.?  We finished the song, Ihugged that tiny frail little body, and whispered, "I'll be back."?  I walked out in the hallway to find the anchorman leaning up against the wall, crying.?  He looked at me and said, "How can you DO this??  That is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life."

I looked him square in the eye and replied, "I have to.?  For the memory of my little boy who was only a year older than that little guy in that room, and for all the others who have had a child die."

"I can't do this, I just can't," he said.?  I took his hand and said, "You know, it's ok to cry. You are only human and you just witnessed something that will stay with you the rest of our life."

He nodded and said, "I can never forget this night or the song 'Jingle Bells'.

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It's not easy, I admit that.?  It wasn't easy on December 22, 1982 when the doctors told us our mom would not live to see Christmas Day and we stood at the foot and side of her bed and sang Christmas carols in her hospital room.?  None of it is easy.?  But someone has to do it.?  Someone has to touch a life in whatever way we can.?  Christmas is for giving.?  Giving does not always come wrapped in a box with a bow.?  It comes sometimes in whispers.?  It sometimes comes through a song.?  But one thing is for sure, it comes when we can give of ourselves to someone who is less fortunate than we are.

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Sharon Bryant

1946 @bellsouth.net

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About Me:

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I am Sharon Bryant,? 59 years old and reside in Alabama. I lost my child in 1977 when he was five and I write articles on bereavement often. I am a chocolate/candy maker and also a wood crafter and knitter. I am married to a wonderful man, and have two remaining children, a daughter 26,
Amy, and a second son, Randy, age 24.

My main goal in life is to help those who
have lost a child. My website is: www.angelsremembered.tk

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~**~**~

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Writers Feedback

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Robert Gilbert Jr,? ?  no offense to anyone else but I am sooooo pleased to see his name.........I am late in ckg mail as I am at my daughters today?  hopefully back home tonight.? ?  Love, Mom xoxo

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? SENIOR WRITERS

Chief Writer: Sharon Bryant

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? Agee, Vance;? Apted, Violet;? Baker, Kathy; Batt, Al;?  Berry, Nell; Blaine, Pamela

Boda, Ginger;? ? Buhagiar, Victor; Cassady, B.J.;?  Cavalera, Robyn; Crider, Mark;? 

Deming, Barb; Doherty, Maria; Goodier, Steve; Halley, Ellie Braun;

Harris, Kathy Anne;? Hunt, Sharlette;? 

Jacobson, Gary;? Kiser, Roger Dean; Kerens, Claudia; Jenkins, Pamela;

Liles, Norma; Lilly, Jodi Flesberg; Lock, Joyce; Mazzella, Joe;? Morris, Deepak; Ojeigbe, Georgewaters;

?  Petry, Dianna Doles; Roberts, Susan;?  Shiveley, Debra; Shaw, Bob; Sims, Richard; Streidel, Saskia; Swarner, Ken; Vaknin, Sam; Verhoeff, Jan

Walker, Bill; Walker, Joe;? Warner, Gorden K; Walsh, Sue

Weymouth, Barbara; Whirity, Kathy;? White, Robert;

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STORYTIME TAPESTRY STAFF

Publisher: Carol Roach-founder

Moderator: Thelma Hartselle-co founder

Moderator: Clara Westerfer

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