The Truth About Santa ClausWritten by Arleen M. Kaptur
Christmas carols evoke visions of holiday cheer and wonderful, tender family moments. There is "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas," a classic that has spanned time of many generations. There are numerous books and articles written about Christmas, such as "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus." A letter written by an 8-year-old New York girl received a national response from newspaper she sent it to - The Sun. Many young children struggle with thought of Santa Claus. Some of their friends laugh at them for believing, and some parents go to great lengths to protect and preserve this belief in their small children. In reality, young and old, would like to believe in a wonderful fantasy of magic and a touch of Holiday cheer. Truth is that with everyday life, adults get to be very skeptical and no longer hold on to childhood visions of sugarplums and jolly fellows coming down a chimney. The concept of Santa Claus can be analyzed and taken apart - it can be examined, re-examined, and checked out twice again. Madison Avenue executives conceive new ways to promote "magic" of season to include childhood traditions and beliefs, and stores are filled to overflowing with replicas and manufactured versions. In reality, yes, there really is a Santa Claus. It is a most wondrous feeling of love, generosity, and devotion. As editor of The Sun so aptly put it, "How dreary would be world if there were no Santa Claus. There would be no child-like faith, no poetry, no romance...the light of childhood that fills world would be extinguished without Santa Claus." You don't have to "see" Santa to believe in what Santa stands for. As in religious beliefs and doctrines, not seeing and believing, trusting, is where faith abounds. Santa represents faith in a higher power than we will ever be, it is faith in mankind that in hearts throughout world there is love and tenderness. Small children are to be cherished and adults can hold on to memories and beliefs from their past - knowing full well scientific research that has proven these concepts as "not probable."
| | 6 Easy Gifts with Gourmet FoodWritten by Merrie Schonbach
Thank you for reading this article, we will explore 6 low cost gifts sets you can make with gourmet food. The below gifts are designed to be hand delivered, if you plan on shipping them add additional packing materials to cushion items.1 - Tea Gift Items Needed: Two small boxes of gourmet tea, a teaball, bow, gift tag and 1" decorative ribbon. Stack two boxes of tea and carefully tape teaball to top box using clear tape. Wrap ribbon four ways around box ending at top and tie or add a bright bow and gift tag. 2 - Coffee Gift Items Needed: Large decorative coffee cup, small bag of gourmet coffee, 3 or 4 packs of flavored creamer that you do not have to keep cold, empty coffee can and a bow. File edge of coffee can till smooth, place coffee cup inside coffee can, add packets of creamer inside coffee cup and bag of gourmet coffee on top. Use white tissue paper around coffee cup to keep it from breaking. Put plastic lid back on coffee can, add a gift tag and bow to top. 3 - Salsa Gift Items Needed: Large plastic snack bowl, individual serving size of chips and a bottle of gourmet salsa. Place chip bags into bowl, wrap salsa bottle with tissue paper, tie off top with curling or decorative ribbon, place in bowl. Place bowl in a large decorative gift bag or wrap with gift warp tie off top with ribbon, add a bow and gift tag. 4 - Pretzel Gift Items Needed: Individual serving size bags of pretzels, a large empty pretzels bag, a bottle of pretzel dip.
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