December 2007
C.A.R.(2)E.S. NEWSLETTER
(Creating A Respectful and Responsive Educational System)
Dr. Duane Hodgin, Assistant Superintendent for Educational Support Services
Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township
"National School District of Character"
December 14, 2007
(No. 4)
“The basic essentials of happiness are: Someone to love, something meaningful to do,
and something to hope for.” -- Allen Chillmore
This newsletter is focused on the “Holiday Season”
and the messages of Giving, Hope and Love.
SANTA CLAUS: THE TRUE STORY – by Carol Laycock
I remember my first Christmas party with Grandma. I remember tearing across town on my bike on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: “There is no Santa Claus,” she jeered. Even dummies know that!” I fled to grandma’s house that day because knew she would be straight with me. I knew grandma always told the truth.
She was ready for me. “No Santa Claus!” she snorted. “Ridiculous! Don’t believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let’s go.” “Go? Go where, grandma?” I asked. I hadn’t even finished my second cinnamon bun.
“Where” turned out to be Kerby’s General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days!
“Take this money,” she said, “and buy something for someone who needs it. I’ll wait for you in the car.” I was only eight years old and I had often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped by myself. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids a school, the people who went to my church.
I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobbie Decker. He was a kid with bad breath, messy hair, tattered clothes, and he sat right behind me in class. Bobbie didn’t have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. I fingered the ten dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobbie a coat.
“Is this a Christmas present for someone?” the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. “Yes,” I replied shyly. “It’s …it’s for Bobbie.” The nice lady smiled at me and put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.
That evening grandma helped me wrap the coat and write, “To Bobbie, From Santa Claus” on the package. (Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy.) She drove me over to Bobbie’s house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa’s helpers. Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie’s house and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then grandma gave me a nudge. “All right, Santa Claus,” she whispered, “get going.” I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness…finally the door opened and there stood Bobbie.
Forty years haven’t dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my grandma, in Bobbie’s bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Clause were just what grandma said they were—ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on this team!
HOW YOU KNOW IF YOU STILL HAVE HOPE (Grades 8-12. Ask students what it means
to have hope. Read a few examples. Have them make their own list.)
· If you can look at the sunset and smile, then you still have hope.
· If you can find pleasure in the movement of a butterfly, then you still have hope.
· If the smile of a child can still warm your heart, then you still have hope.
· If you can see the good in other people, then you still have hope.
· If the sight of a rainbow still makes you stop and stare in wonder, then you still have hope.
· If the soft fur of a favored pet still feels pleasant under your fingertips, then you still have hope.
· If you meet new people with a trace of excitement and optimism, then you still have hope.
· If you give people the benefit of a doubt, then you still have hope.
· If you still offer your hand in friendship to others that have touched your life, then you still have hope.
· If receiving an unexpected card or letter still brings a pleasant surprise, then you still have hope.
· If the suffering of others still fills you with pain and frustration, then you still have hope.
· If you refuse to let a friendship die, or accept that it must end, then you still have hope.
· If you look forward to a time or place of quiet and reflection, then you still have hope.
· If you still buy the ornaments, put up the Christmas tree or cook the turkey, then you still have hope.
· If you still watch love stories or want the endings to be happy, then you still have hope.
· If you can look to the past and smile, then you still have hope.
· If, when faced with the bad, when told everything is futile, you can still look up and end the conversation with the phrase…”yeah, BUT…” then you still have hope.
· Hope puts a smile on your face when the heart cannot manage.
· Hope puts our feet on the path when our eyes cannot see it.
· Hope moves us to act when our souls are confused of the direction.
· Hope is a wonderful thing, something to be cherished and nurtured. It can be found in each of us, and it can bring light into the darkest of places…never lose hope.
-- Anonymous
THERE’S MORE TO CHRISTMAS
There’s more, much more, to Christmas
Than candle light and cheer;
It’s the spirit of one’s friendship
That brightens all the year;
It’s thoughtfulness and kindness,
It’s hope reborn anew,
For peace, for understanding
And for goodwill to me and you.
-- Anonymous
THIS HOLIDAY SEASON…
For your home,
May there be LOVE to warm it…
For your heart,
May there be JOY to fill it…
For your trials,
May there be HOPE to encourage you…
For your Christmas (or other Holiday tradition),
May there be PEACE to bless it.
FTTLA (Funny Things To Laugh About)
A man and his wife were returning home from childbirth classes at a New York hospital. Noting the wife’s obvious pregnancy, the taxi driver, Mr. Ho, proceeded to tell the couple about his wife’s experience at the same hospital. She had been admitted one December 24th and the next day delivered triplets. He said visitors and staff were amused Christmas morning when they saw the newborns in the nursery and read the names on the three bassinets: Ho, Ho, Ho
“There is Faith, Hope and Love, and the greatest of these is Love.”
-- First Corinthians