Between my poor departed python and the general holiday hangover/sinus infection that I always seem to have this time of year, I needed some cheering up. Luckily, recent news and blog postings provide it:
Soldier returns home from Iraq, tells local reporter that he can't wait to have a Genny Cream Ale. The High Falls Brewing Company promptly pulls up to his house with a truck full; one Cream Ale for every day the soldier served in Iraq.
A VP of a foodbank in Virginia sent a letter to a meat packing company, asking if they could donate any meat to help needy families celebrate Christmas. Smithfield Packing Co responded with an 18-wheeler full of 10,000 pounds of free meat.
James Lileks is back! He reports on his toddler's Christmas recital:
Her preschool celebrates Christmas with untrammeled gusto, I’m happy to say. You got your manger, your big multi-pointy star, your kings on camels, your myrhh. The three- and four-year olds had an afternoon service last week, and it pegged the Cute-O-Meter – they filed into the great vaulted sanctuary singing “Jesus Loves Me” in that classic toneless toddler caterwaul that nevertheless finds a melody somewhere, and holds it aloft like the body of some strange & lovely creature that washed up on the village’s shore.
They sang five songs, including Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Same repertoire I sang when I was in the Elim Lutheran Cherub Choir back in Fargo in the early 60s...We had a choir director intent on unlearning our juvenile inflections. It drove him nuts when we hissed that wish: We WISSSSH you a Merachrismus we WISSSSH you a Merachrismus we WISSSSH you a Merachrismus anda HABBYNUYEER. Now I teach Gnat to lean on the Wish. Put your elbow into it, kid.
A 20-year-old National Guardsman, unmarried and with no kids, gave up his chance to come home for Christmas so that a fellow guardsman could see his family:
When the Cape May Court House-based 253rd Transportation Company held a drawing to determine who would get leave, Specialist Jonathan Hinker -- the married father of a 7-year-old son -- drew too high a number to qualify. However, the 34-year-old Lower Township man's disappointment soon turned to joy when Specialist James Presnall volunteered to stay in Iraq.
"(Presnall) felt it was more important (that) Jon was able to come home for his family. He gave up his opportunity to come home," Hinker's wife, Buffi, told The Press of Atlantic City.
Presnall, a 20-year-old Galloway Township native who is not married, had planned to spend his leave with his parents, Howard and Toni Presnall. While disappointed about not seeing their son, they were overjoyed to learn of their son's selfless act.
A chance to help Iraqi youth; donate money to buy musical instruments through Spirit of America:
U.S. Army Civil Affairs Captain Justin Thomas emailed Spirit of America requesting musical instruments for the people of Khormal, Iraq who had suffered years of repression under radical Islamists.
Justin wrote, "I believe that one necessity is musical instruments. I know this sounds trivial, but the towns around Halabja and Khormal are known throughout Kurdistan for their cultural history, to include musicianship and traditional Kurdish music. However, when Ansar al Islam and other Islamist organizations took power, they forbad any type of music playing or listening, to include Kurdish folk music. Music was outlawed until the people were liberated at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. There are children who are only now hearing their traditional music, and adults who very much want to celebrate their traditions."
Posted by kswygert at December 22, 2003 11:06 AM