Home > Holiday Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 06
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Holiday Sales
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The holidays always bring opportunities to save money and do good at the same time. Check out the following events:
1) Dec. 7 & 8 - Shoe drive at Sabot to benefit Dress for Success. Bring one or more pairs of closed-toe, work appropriate shoes and receive 40% off a single purchase from the fall and winter collection.
2) Now to Dec. 20 - Toy Drive at Sage boutiques. Donate a new unwrapped toy valued at $10 or more and receive 25% off one clothing item. The store is also having a holiday party Saturday, Dec. 8 with discounts of 20 to 50%.
Some other holiday sales:
3) NV-U boutique at 465 Boulevard SE is offering $20 off any coat in store Today through Sunday, Dec. 9.
4) Now until Dec. 31 Miss Jessie’s products for curls, kinks and waves are buy 1 get 1 free at Urbanbella (141 W. Wieuca Road) or urbanbella.com. (good while supplies last).
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Team effort brings Santa to seniors this year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This Christmas season, some Gwinnett residents are expanding their list to include a group often overlooked in all the holiday merriment — senior citizens living in our community who are alone and financially strapped.
Area merchants — and shoppers throughout the county — are helping us remember these people through our “Be a Santa to a Senior” project.
The project grew from an interest by the Home Instead Senior Care franchisee in Gwinnett to participate in a holiday community service project. (Home Instead Senior Care is a private company that provides nonmedical home care and companionship to senior citizens. The recipients of the program would not be clients of Home Instead Senior Care, but elderly who are identified as being in need.)
The goal of the “Be a Santa to a Senior” program is to provide holiday cheer and gifts to almost 400 seniors who are lonely, financially needy and least likely to receive a present during the holiday season. Shoppers and patrons at participating businesses can take an ornament from one of the display trees at the business and purchase gifts for a senior, based on the ideas listed on the ornament. The gifts are dropped off back at the participating merchants by Dec. 10, after which they will be gathered, wrapped and distributed.
How is this accomplished? Well, it takes the involvement, dedication and hard work of many people — most of whom I don’t know and the majority of whom I will never meet. But a few people are working particularly hard to make “Be a Santa to a Senior” come together.
Our nonprofit agency partner that provides us with the older adults to be the recipients of the gifts is the Gwinnett County Department of Community Services.
Help from area merchants has been essential, and we have been blessed with four who are hosting a Christmas tree at their location: Wal-Mart on Scenic Highway, Belk Department Store in Snellville, Chick-fil-A on Scenic Highway and Macaroni Grill at the Avenue at Webb Gin.
All the presents dropped off at the merchant locations will be retrieved and brought to our office to be logged in and catalogued properly. Guess who does all that running around? Well, every program needs a point person — a “go-to” individual who can get the project off the ground and nurture and care for it through completion. That person is our office manager, Sue Silva, one of those people who actually likes it when things get hectic and crazy, and the more hectic and crazy, the better.
The fifth-grade classes at Pharr Elementary and Grayson Elementary will participate in a holiday wrapping party for all the gifts bought, and Pharr Elementary has graciously offered to host the party. Not only will the children help wrap presents, but they will also get their creative juices flowing by making sure each senior has a handcrafted holiday card to accompany the gifts. Additionally, some community residents as well as some Home Instead caregivers have volunteered their time to help wrap presents.
Finally, we need a whole lot of elves to help deliver the presents. Most of the gifts will be delivered by volunteers with the Meals on Wheels program in Gwinnett County, along with some Home Instead Senior Care personnel.
Just telling you about the scope of this project makes my head spin. And realizing all the people who have so unselfishly given of their time, their money, their goodwill, their store space and their school space is overwhelming. I don’t know where to begin to thank everyone.
Most important, I want to acknowledge every individual who will take the time to select an ornament and shop for someone they don’t even know. Most of you have gone above and beyond in your generosity. I wish I had each of your names so I could personally thank you for your willingness to get involved and go the extra mile. This project has reinvigorated my faith in people and their decision to stop and help a stranger less fortunate during a time of the year when it is most appreciated.
Gerry Serotte and her brother Sam Serotte of Lawrenceville co-own the Snellville office of Home Instead Senior Care, which is in its 10th year of operation. The business assists the elderly with errands and nonmedical home care that allow them to stay at home as they grow older.
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Holiday photos of kids follow definite pattern
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This past Thanksgiving, I was visiting with my parents when I found a box jam-packed with grainy, fading photographs. My dad sat down with me, and we had the best time looking through the pictures, figuring out which woman was my grandmother, which gentleman was my grandfather and, especially, which little boy was my dad.
My dad is 84 years old. I’m no math wizard, but some quick subtraction told me these photos were taken in 1933. Or ’35. Or ’38. The point is: way, way back in the day, photos were taken pretty regularly. Imagine that! Because a search through my mom’s scrapbook will produce an extremely meager stash of her young family’s pictures. Especially when it comes to me, otherwise known as the third-born.
My two older brothers, at 2 and 3 years old, show up in some dandy pics, wearing cowboy suits and boots, pedaling a tricycle. Or in the park, dressed in little jackets with those ear-flap hats on their buzz-cut heads. Then I was delivered, and wham! Welcome to the photographic black hole.
“But what about holiday photos?” you ask. Surely, there’s a precious picture of that only daughter, dressed in red velvet and lace or even footy pajamas. What mother doesn’t have a bounty of black-and-white memories of her little ones, opening presents on Christmas morn, or sitting on Santy’s lap, their tiny eyes all aglow?
Well, OK. There is a holiday photo. I suppose the only reason we have that picture is because my mother didn’t have to take it. There we stand, my two older brothers and I, sort of close, but not really, to the fat, jolly man. We look distinctly uncomfortable. Probably because we had no idea what was going on, being as unfamiliar as we were to the whole picture-taking process.
It’s the only photo I’ve ever seen of me or my brothers with Santa Claus. When I asked my mom about this phenomenon, she claimed nobody took pictures back in the day. When pressed further, she’d say she was too busy raising her children to bother with pictures, especially around the holidays. Like that’s any kind of an excuse.
So I vowed to be the best darn picture taker ever after my first-born arrived. His baby book is crammed with page after page of snapshots, documenting his every move. And Christmas pictures? Too many to count. I’m surprised we didn’t have to take out a loan to pay for all that December adorableness.
When his sister followed a few years later, I clicked away. Her baby book is full, too. Maybe not crammed. Maybe not chronicled month-by-month. More like quarter-by-quarter. But in my defense, she leaped from one milestone to the next, unlike her brother, who crawled at a snail’s pace. Is that the photographer’s fault?
And can you really blame the photographer if at Christmas, a certain little girl had an aversion to sitting on strange men’s laps? There are a few photos of my daughter with Santa, but she’s usually standing to the side of the chair, looking distinctly uncomfortable (like mother, like daughter). So can you blame a parent if those holiday photos weren’t taken at the expensive mall Santa hot spot? I mean, we still had to pay something for the pictures, even if it was a donated can of peas or box of tuna helper.
The third child joined us in 1991, I think it was. And I truly believe that 2008 will be the year I finish his baby book.
But, and this is the most important thing to remember during this holiday season, I do have a picture of my youngest with Santa Claus. There’s a darling Polaroid of him with a teenage Santa taken during a Secret Shopping Day extravaganza. Sure, the photo was free. And maybe I wasn’t exactly there to take the picture. And it’s possible that my child is leaning against the chair because he’s way too big to sit in the scrawny Santa’s lap.
But there’s a definite look of wonder on my son’s face. Maybe the poor kid’s wondering what he’s doing with this fake 14-year-old Santa? And I think I know the answer to that. But first, I’ve got to call my mother. She’s getting an apology for Christmas.
Cathy C. Hall is a mother of three who lives in Lilburn. You can check out her writings at Cathy C.’s Hall of Fame at www.cathychall.blogspot.com.
“Day at the food pantry reveals big needs”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been a long time since I bagged groceries.
Back when I did it for a living, stores used paper bags. Bag boys were taught to build a foundation with cans, then put crushables like bread on top. Nowadays plastic has replaced paper, and the baggers, well, the system they use leaves much to be desired.
My years at Piggly Wiggly came flooding back as I worked a few hours Wednesday in the food pantry at the Norcross Cooperative Ministry. I restocked the shelves and helped fill grocery orders alongside regular volunteers Bill Pooser, J.T. Morris and Bob Reynders.
Some of the clients who received the food were waiting in line before the doors opened at 10 a.m. The agency, like other county charities, is experiencing tight times during an uptick in requests.
The drought dried up the need for landscaping and yard crews. The housing slump hit construction workers. And the general ebb and flow of the economy has been brutal to many.
What’s worse, it’s the holidays.
Director Shirley Cabe was on the phone Wednesday, trying to rustle up more toys for 3,092 kids on the holiday list. The nonprofit has stopped signing up families because it may not meet current demand. Before I started work, Cabe showed me the “toy store,” a part of the basement where toys are stored till “pack night.” That’s when volunteers will pull items - sorted by age and gender - and put them in garbage bags for families to pick up later.
“These toys will be gone with the first 500 or 600 kids,” Cabe predicted. “We try to give three toys per kid, so this will only take care of a small portion of the kids. And we have hardly nothing for girls 7 to 12 years old.”
If anybody knows about poverty, near-poverty and the working poor, it’s Cabe. She’s been with the ministry since its inception nearly two decades ago. (May 2008 marks its 20th anniversary). She’s seen requests grow from about 80 to 100 families a month to a current level of 1,000 plus.
Some of you hold an obdurate view of people who turn to charities. Many, you think, abuse goodwill. Well, clients at the Norcross agency have to prove their claims, and the staff can detect when someone’s trying to get over.
Not that it happens much.
“It’s a small percentage,” Cabe told me. “A very small percentage.”
Because it’s the holiday season, volunteers have flooded the nonprofit, so lack of helping hands is a non-issue. Everything else is, though. Monetary donations. New, unwrapped toys. Food.
“We always need food,” Cabe said.
Food orders are sent to the pantry by computer. They include the family’s name, number of adults and children, and any special requests. The most unusual order during my two hours of volunteering came from a family of nine. They didn’t want pork ‘n’ beans or peanut butter.
“If that’s what they want,” Pooser said, “that’s what we’ll give them.”
Or not give them, in this case.
And we did.
Badie’s challenge
Volunteering for a few hours at the Norcross Cooperative Ministry makes me want to do more, not just for this agency, but other community groups.
What about you?
Are you doing anything to uplift someone, to make this community better? If you are, tell me about it. If not, why not find an organization, or someone, and be an agent for change?
E-mail me at rbadie@ajc.com.
How you can help
The Norcross Cooperative Ministry doesn’t need volunteers, just everything else. Like financial donations, food supplies and toys. Especially toys. The agency, located at 2275 Mitchell Road, has a holiday list that includes more than 3,000 kids. Items that befit 7- to -12 year-old girls are a high priority, as well as gift cards for teens.
Here’s another way to help: Give a book.
Norcross-area schools, in conjunction with Re/Max Suburban Atlanta and Alpha Xi Delta sorority, are collecting new or gently used books through Dec. 20. Moreover, tax-deductible contributions to buy books for families the agency serves are being accepted at www.firstbook.org/norcross.
Donated books can be dropped off at numerous locations, including Kroger in the Centre Stage shopping center; the Publix stores in Peachtree Corners and Spalding Corners; Peachtree, Simpson and Stripling elementary schools; Norcross High; Pinckneyville Middle School; Curves of Norcross and Gwinnett Fire Station No. 4 on Spalding Drive.
For more information visit www.firstbook.org/atlantaalphaxidelta.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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Special holiday videos — Watch No. 3 now
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Grandpa Smithee played a musical saw. He would dress in his finest Austrian Von Trapp suit to play “Edelweiss.”
This man, however, determines it’s just fine to perform “SILENT NIGHT” ON A SAW while wearing casual shorts. Hope he doesn’t cut a leg.
Enjoy.
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Fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a little exercise for the Christmas season:
Hum a few bars of “Silent Night.”
Sing a line or two of “Away in a Manger.”
Now, give us your best rendition of “Christmas Candles.”
What? You don’t know “Christmas Candles”?
I’ll start it for you: “Each Christmas season, my eyes grow bright …”
Still don’t recall it?
I’m not surprised.
“Christmas Candles” is my favorite Christmas song. (And I am a Christmas music groupie.) Yet, I have never met anyone outside my family who knew the song. I have never heard it on the radio, on television, at church, in a movie or on stage. And until recently, I had never heard a recording of it — only our family’s unprofessional version with my sister following our time-worn, frayed-edge sheet music on the piano.
A year or so ago, I finally Googled it and was able to locate an old recording of the song by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters. I ordered a copy, anxiously awaiting delivery. When I heard it, I was disappointed - it was the same song, but not the same. Too fast. Too peppy. Too smooth. As much as I love Bing and The Andrews Sisters, no one can measure up to decades of memories.
If I were to be objective, there are better holiday songs. But no other song could lure my father to join us in singing at the piano. So “Christmas Candles” was special. I was curious what Christmas songs others would label as their favorite. So I asked a few folks around Snellville.
John LaMattina, a teacher at Norton Elementary School, private drum instructor and member of the Atlanta Blue Notes big band likes “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
“It seems like the great singers do this one the best, and I just like it because it seems to beckon the spirit of Christmas the best!” LaMattina said.
Amanda Sali, director of choral activities at South Gwinnett High School, says her favorite changes often but is currently “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
“ … The melody is haunting and the text so expressive,” Sali said. “Emmanuel means ‘God with us,’ which is the true meaning of Christmas —the incredible paradox of God becoming man in the form of a tiny infant.”
Brian Garrison, who works at QT on Ga. 124 in Snellville, likes “O Holy Night,” which also happens to be the favorite of District 3 Gwinnett County Commissioner Michael Beaudreau.
My husband, Phil, likes Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmastime is here,” (of Charlie Brown fame).
Donna Pendergast, band director at Snellville Middle School, likes “Sleigh Ride.” “Because I play in a band, performing or hearing this piece signals the beginning of the holiday season,” she said.
Russell Beane, who works at the Snellville Post Office likes “Jingle Bell Rock.”
Garry Rhodes, former director of the Gwinnett Transit Advisory Board, likes Bing Crosby’s legendary “White Christmas,” and the movie that made it famous.
“There’s something magical about it, something that almost gives you chills.”
Jenny Roper, who works at Snellville’s Huddle House, said she enjoys “Winter Wonderland” best.
Snellville City Councilman Warren Auld’s choice is the “Hallelujah!” chorus of Handel’s “Messiah.”
“It’s so majestic,” Auld said. “It’s what I look forward to - it’s like the life of Christmas.”
And Denise Reid, art teacher at W.C. Britt Elementary School, likes “Silent Night” the best.
“The reason is that on Christmas Eve at the candlelight service, when the church is aglow with only the candles, and “Silent Night” is being sung, there is that special peaceful moment when we come so close to what the Season is all about,” Mrs. Reid said. “The frenzy of shopping, baking, sending out cards, and all the other preparations are over, and we are simply united with goodwill and the joy of Christmas.
“As an aside, I also am partial to ‘Silent Night’ as it is sung on Christmas Eve because it is the only time of the year I get to hear my husband sing!” Mrs. Reid said. “Mike, my husband, has a beautiful bass voice, but he doesn’t consider himself a singer! Something about ‘Silent Night’ causes him to join right in!”
What is your favorite Christmas song? Why?
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Team effort brings Santa to seniors this year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This Christmas season, some Gwinnett residents are expanding their list to include a group often overlooked in all the holiday merriment — senior citizens living in our community who are alone and financially strapped.
Area merchants — and shoppers throughout the county — are helping us remember these people through our “Be a Santa to a Senior” project.
The project grew from an interest by the Home Instead Senior Care franchisee in Gwinnett to participate in a holiday community service project. (Home Instead Senior Care is a private company that provides nonmedical home care and companionship to senior citizens. The recipients of the program would not be clients of Home Instead Senior Care, but elderly who are identified as being in need.)
The goal of the “Be a Santa to a Senior” program is to provide holiday cheer and gifts to almost 400 seniors who are lonely, financially needy and least likely to receive a present during the holiday season. Shoppers and patrons at participating businesses can take an ornament from one of the display trees at the business and purchase gifts for a senior, based on the ideas listed on the ornament. The gifts are dropped off back at the participating merchants by Dec. 10, after which they will be gathered, wrapped and distributed.
How is this accomplished? Well, it takes the involvement, dedication and hard work of many people — most of whom I don’t know and the majority of whom I will never meet. But a few people are working particularly hard to make “Be a Santa to a Senior” come together.
Our nonprofit agency partner that provides us with the older adults to be the recipients of the gifts is the Gwinnett County Department of Community Services.
Help from area merchants has been essential, and we have been blessed with four who are hosting a Christmas tree at their location: Wal-Mart on Scenic Highway, Belk Department Store in Snellville, Chick-fil-A on Scenic Highway and Macaroni Grill at the Avenue at Webb Gin.
All the presents dropped off at the merchant locations will be retrieved and brought to our office to be logged in and catalogued properly. Guess who does all that running around? Well, every program needs a point person — a “go-to” individual who can get the project off the ground and nurture and care for it through completion. That person is our office manager, Sue Silva, one of those people who actually likes it when things get hectic and crazy, and the more hectic and crazy, the better.
The fifth-grade classes at Pharr Elementary and Grayson Elementary will participate in a holiday wrapping party for all the gifts bought, and Pharr Elementary has graciously offered to host the party. Not only will the children help wrap presents, but they will also get their creative juices flowing by making sure each senior has a handcrafted holiday card to accompany the gifts. Additionally, some community residents as well as some Home Instead caregivers have volunteered their time to help wrap presents.
Finally, we need a whole lot of elves to help deliver the presents. Most of the gifts will be delivered by volunteers with the Meals on Wheels program in Gwinnett County, along with some Home Instead Senior Care personnel.
Just telling you about the scope of this project makes my head spin. And realizing all the people who have so unselfishly given of their time, their money, their goodwill, their store space and their school space is overwhelming. I don’t know where to begin to thank everyone.
Most important, I want to acknowledge every individual who will take the time to select an ornament and shop for someone they don’t even know. Most of you have gone above and beyond in your generosity. I wish I had each of your names so I could personally thank you for your willingness to get involved and go the extra mile. This project has reinvigorated my faith in people and their decision to stop and help a stranger less fortunate during a time of the year when it is most appreciated.
Gerry Serotte and her brother Sam Serotte of Lawrenceville co-own the Snellville office of Home Instead Senior Care, which is in its 10th year of operation. The business assists the elderly with errands and nonmedical home care that allow them to stay at home as they grow older.
Permalink | | Categories: holiday
Do you pick up your own gifts?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was in Target this week and I saw something I wanted for Christmas, the A&E version of “Pride and Prejudice.” I picked it up and threw it my cart congratulating myself on helping my husband get his list done for me. As I mentioned earlier in the week, he hates shopping. He rarely gets to stores so if I see it, then why not buy it?
And then I remembered a few years back when he got mad that I picked some things up at the cooking shop for myself. I wasn’t using the presents ahead of time. I just was trying to be efficient. He didn’t think it could be considered a gift if I was buying it myself.
I decided he could order the movie from Amazon, and I put it back on the shelf. We’ll see if it shows up Christmas morning.
I am sending him to the store to get one of his presents. He wants a DVR/DVD burner all in one type-thingy. Clearly, you don’t want me picking this out.
Do you ever pick up your presents for convenience or for accuracy? Does your spouse get mad? Does it ruin the idea of gift-giving or is just using your time wisely?
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