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Labels: 2010, life, smiley faces

Got it in an email and I wanna share with all my dearest friends! :)

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For the Man Who Hated Christmas
by Nancy W. Gavin


It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas--oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it--overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma---the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.

Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears.

It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.

Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved kids - all kids - and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition--one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.

The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there.

You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.

Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing to take down the envelope.

Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be with us.

Labels: 2009, life, merry christmas, smiley faces

listening: stop and stare by one republic
mood: *silently praying* GOD, LET ME HAPPY...!!!

projects are a lot (i don't believe that we have to submit them so soon...! *shriek*)
over drive manga is super COOL
PRINCESS SAKURA (in my list) IS A HARDCORE B*TCH (and i don't mean it as a compliment & never ever mention anything to me about her)
TV watching is going to be LIMITED soon
jobs-hunting a definite!
am so SINGLE (who wants a man who seriously CONSTANTLY LIES to YOU...!)
j-ROCK songs are making way into my mp3
money is definite neccesity in my life
might get a part-time job soon!
handphone not constantly with me (anything email or pm me on friendster/sgcafe)
changing blogskin soon (need to do linking first)

i wish i could seriously blog on whatever happened to me in the past 3-4 months, but honestly, am so lazy....! lol.

1. Great Grandma & Grand-Uncle passed away within one week from each other. Great-Grandma went first, then Grand-Uncle. but honestly ar, i ain't close to either of them though it seems that my great grandma is kinda nice... she passed away about 2 weeks after Chinese New Year.

2. B*tches who seriously wanna b*tch about me (especially you, PRINCESS SAKURA/SAKURA-HIME/YUZHEN), do it in my face, man... i don't like cowards okay? you want to play dirty, make sure you don't leave clues behind...! want to cat fight? i'll find a cat that is in heat and let you 'play' with it. don't SERIOUSLY try to piss me off. you wouldn't want me to do anything to you, do ya...?

3. hmm... can't remember what i wanna type le... argh...





oh yeah, i've researching on how to do latte art, since entp project last semester. damn cool, man...! probably i'll do a presentation on that during assembly. even miss deon was also curious on how professional baristas do that. lol. when i have my café's ready (ORION café), i'll go learn how to be a barista...!!! woo-hoo!!!

latte art, here i come!!!

Labels: afterthoughts, café, hurts, ITE, latte art, lurve ones, p*ssed, pfft, RANDOM, ruBBISH, screwed, SEXYBACK, SHORT-CIRCUIT, smack bUTTS, smiley faces, start business, tears, time, whatever, with lurve

listening: STRONGER by KANYE WEST
mood: hmm.

i went out with syahidah yesterday! well, i was supposed to pass her a set of photocopied notes, so we actually decided to meet-up at Clark Quey MRT control station. after that we went around the CENTRAL to walk around... then continued our journey to LIANG court, and oh my gawd... MCaFE's MOCHACINO is... is... delicioso~~~ oh my~~~ XD it's infused with chocolate and coffee... XD syahidah and my mochacino even had smiley faces! XD whee!

yeah! i'll be getting my wig soon! XD *but only next month... >,<* hmm, maybe i'll wear them to school one day...? XD hahaX. *i won't really scare the living sh*t out of everyone, will i? XD*

i've just ealised one thing... I'M ALWAYS HAVING TYPO ERRORS IN MY BELOVED BLOGGY!!!! >,< what the hell, is wrong with me... gaah...

i'm goig to have to make my new year resoultion soon... XD

Labels: afterthoughts, liang court, mochacino, resolutions, smiley faces, syahidah