Hello all!
THANK YOU so much for the kind comments, but really you should be thanking gmaof3 for being such an amazing mother to teach me how to teach my children the true meaning of family and holidays and how to help in any way you can. I am poor and struggle to make my rent while working towards my degree and raising children, so helping in person is all I CAN do, even as painful as it is for me. But it's important to me to show my children what they don't get to see often, real people that make our family look rich, that need help more than we do. I want them to know like i do that it feels better to give than receive, and one small task for us can mean the world to someone else. And I credit gmaof3 for teaching me that while I was a child, and into adulthood. She truly is the blessing of our family!

I love you mom, more than you know! :)

sttldwnjvl... Its so true though... Children won't remember what they "got" for Christmas when they were 8 years old, but they WILL remember the cookies made together, the home made suit cakes they made for Grandpa's winter birds, the sledding, the family time spent together.

It builds a family tradition that will stay with them, the rest of their lives. Its about the memories and the feeling of belonging and being loved.

The commercialism of presents is man made, and as such, its the presents that will be forgotten. The unity of a family, in whatever capacity that might be, is what will become a part of who they are and will be, as they grow and start their own family traditions.

God bless!

Gmof3...I want to applaude you so much because I have had a mother that couldn't do the christmas thing because of other problems; (alcohol) I atleast had another family-her best friend and his family that did do the cookies, sledding, and crafts that she would have never done. I can't wait till I have kids to repeat these traditions! The presents never will mean as much to me as the people and the traditions.

mollyd5, ncpanfan & nurse4u... thank you so much for your kind comments. Its been quite a roller coaster ride for her, and even more so - for her three children.

The saving grace element for children however, is that they have no past life to compare their present life to. This is it! They are such resilient little creatures! My goal is to be there every step of the way... while my precious daughter goes through these life altering events, her children will always know they have me to fall back on.

I want to help them build GOOD memories... Making Christmas cookies, home made wrapping paper (which is actually more fun for me to watch then I think it is for them to do... they're covered in glue and glitter and paint...), building snowmen... sledding (something their Mom can't do at all now).

My daughter has begun the visits to the Salvation Army, as part of the family experience for her children... She wants them to really know what it means to give of your own heart, regardless how hard your family is struggling to survive. She's stronger than I, in her convictions for her children... she is a strong young woman. I truly am so proud of her! She IS my gift from God.

Twerp-No problem at all!! It actually was just the thing I needed to read right now as well.

ang1122: THANKS I just love that story. I bet the editor of the Sun never imagined that those few words he wrote to 8 year old Virgina would be so endearing to so many people young & old alike for so many years.
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I'm off to write my letter to Santa...

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Times are tough. I have a hard enough time paying the rent and putting food on the table, this time of year is financially strapping even when I'm working. Not only is it Christmas, but my daughter was born on Christmas Day. This year, she gets one gift for both her Birthday and Christmas. I can't really afford it, but she comes first.

hannah: unfortunatly many kids do know what the economy is like. They hear it on the news, from their friends who may be having a parent(or both parents) losing jobs, and from generally listening in to family converstations. After all it in not a easy thing to hide or keep quiet about.
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It is sad to say that they know more than they let on. I am sure the kids who grew up during the great depression had a idea that times were tough, just like our kids have some sort of idea that times are tough now. And Bless their hearts they try not to let on that they know what they do know.
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I wish everyone a Verry Merry Christmas and Hope for a better New Year

gmaof3- I am so sorry to hear about your daughter. God Bless.

gmaof3: You have a wonderful granddaughter and you should be proud of her! I hope her Christmas wish comes true! May God bless your family!

mollyd5, no, its not dislocated... her femur bone doesn't have a full hip socket to settle in to.. it is short on the top and she also has "chronic muscle wasting" disease. She's only 27 years old... but she has had issues with rolling her ankles and falling all the time, since she was 15 years old.

Now that they have diagnosed her condition, she is looking at either total hip replacements, because of the arthritis in both hips and the degenerative condition of the hip muscles that SHOULD be helping to keep everything in place, or the resurfacing.. which is still hip replacement, but they don't cut the femur bone off and replace it.

She's only 27 years old, with 3 small children! We'll know on Wednesday what will happen.

My eldest grand-daughter is just 8 years old. While picking fabric out for her Christmas program dress, she confided in me that many of her schoolmates seem to think Mom and Dad are really the ones buying all the presents. I asked her if that bothered her, and then she proceeded to tell me that she "kinda" thinks "maybe" it could be true, "But Momma doesn't have any money and its so hard on Momma, with her hip that hurts all the time and she has to have a operation!"

I asked her what she wants for Christmas and all she could come up with was, "Momma being all better and happy again". It broke my heart! She truly is the essence of Christmas and through her AWANA club here in Milton, she knows what Christmas is really all about anyway.

On Thanksgiving morning, my daughter took these fabulous grandchildren of mine to the Salvation Army to donate their time and compassion to people who have nothing AND I MEAN NOTHING! My daughter, in excruciating pain with children in tow... helped the SA as needed and all my granddaughter could talk about was how good she felt. They plan to be there again for Christmas.

With all the struggles my daughter has had to bear... from being a single mother of 3, with a full time job, and a full college schedule... she has somehow managed to teach her children real compassion for others less fortunate. How proud am I of her and her children? I have no words to describe how proud I am of all of them!

May God bless the children!

When you stop believing in Santa...
you get underwear for Christmas!

I believe, but instead of a guy in a red suit it's in a jewish carpenter named Jesus.

Believe and you receive. Doubt and you go with out.

When my daugher had her open heart surgery over Christmas last year, we did not have much money for anything. A family in Orfordville sponsored us, we received gifts from the Ronald McDonald House and my daughter got gifts from Children's Hospital in Milwaukee. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO GAVE SO MY KIDS COULD HAVE A CHRISTMAS. Last year, my four children were spread out, so we were not all together at any one time on Christmas.
This year, I fell and had to have spinal surgery. I am just thankful that my family are and will be together with one another for Christmas.
Christmas is about love& family. I will make something happen for Christmas, but I am just so happy that my daughter is here to celebrate Christmas, and we are all together.

Yes I would like to see the story also so how about it Gazette?
The rule at my house is once you stop believeing in Santa then he stops coming to visit. I still believe in Santa and every year I get a present from him! :)

craigholmes: You'll shoot your eye out kid.

I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!

I believe in Santa too. Just remeber the story Yes Viginia There is A Santa Clause. I love reading it every year, some newspapers still print it (just like the Sun did all those years ago), but I was given the book back in 1980 as a Christmas gift. Reading the story is one family tradition that I make sure to continue.
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Gazette do you think you could print it? It is just the kind of feel good story that we need in these economic times.

When times are hard, it is difficult to keep up your spirits. Doing it for the sake of the kids might make it easier, and certainly more worthwhile. I vote for Santa.

I always told my children even when times were hard all they had to do was believe! I to had to believe and some how some where Cristmas turned out just fine. As a kids myself my grandmother bless her heart always told us if you believe, all things are posible and they always seemed to turn out just great. AND YES I BELIEVE IN SANTA!!!!!!