Tis The Season

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season is on us. It's amazing how in no time flat we went from zero to shopping. Stores opened on Black Friday as early as 0400 local time and my seventeen year old kid had to be at work at 0630. She personally made over 13K at the register of the little specialty store she works at. She personally saw the lines of people who literally camped out at WalMart (across the street) in freezing weather to catch the 0500 sale. And all the while, the background music was playing "Here comes Santa Clause". Oh what a world we live in.

I'm not complaining mind you. It's been that way longer than I have been alive. But, every year I react differently. This year I am leaning more toward trying to demonstrate that Christmas can be about peace, love, family, and celebration without going into debt.

I seriously would like for everyone who reads this to please contact your local Marine Corps Reserve Unit and ask how you can help with the Toy's for Tots program. In a nutshell, T4T is a program designed to help kids. It doesn't matter your views on poor folks/welfare/poverty or Republican/Democrat. It doesn't matter if you believe that folks make thier own situation or not. Not one kid I've ever met chose to be poor enough that Mom and Dad could not buy a toy for Christmas.

There are going to be some readers who will say that any charity program is a scam. I tend to agree in a lot of cases. But, during my career in the Marines, I personally worked on Toy drives a total of six times. As the Active Duty personnel assigned to keep the reserve center moving and grooving, it was one of our highlights. In this case the work was tough, but the reward came when we actually handed out the toys. So, even if the program has or had issues at the national level, I can personally vouch for it at the local level.

So, here is your mission...... Locate, Close With, and Acquire as many new, unwrapped, unopened toys as you can and get with the Marines in your area to help make Christmas a brighter time one kid at a time.

Semper Fi,
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Fifteen Minutes on Veterans Day

Andy Warhol I think is the one who said that everyone would be famous for about fifteen minutes. I think I am up to minute two.

Shameless Plug........... And I got a letter of commendation from a city council member for it as well. As today is Veterans Day I thought it would be appropriate.

Salutes to all. If you served then you get my thanks because you paved the way for my success. Life is sometimes hard and you physically took the brunt of it when I was a little kid.

IF you are the family member of one who served then you get my thanks for tolerating the unique stresses that accompany being in that position. I know that I could not have done what had to be done without my wife, parents, and kids being as strong as they were.

It is tough in these days to observe and no longer be a participant. Guess I need classes on aging gracefully.