It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas with all the decorations and lights both inside and outside.
We love to drive all around our county and ooh and ahh about the outside decorations all bright and beautiful. There are some that must take weeks for the homeowners to put up, so if that’s you — thank you. Then there’s the lovely way downtown areas look, and the gorgeous lights at Valparaiso’s Central Park, and the ice skating rink bring visions of long ago. Firemen and police officers collect toys and supplies to give to children throughout the area who have little hope of gifts. The food pantries are stocked with far more food items than usual. It is a giving time of year.
One of the most impressive things for me that brought the true meaning of Christmas was in a church lobby. There are many businesses, grocery stores, as well as churches, that have angel trees to make dreams come true at least at this time of year. Immanuel Lutheran Church in Valpo had 150 angel tree wishes on the tree from the Porter County Commissioners, with December 11 as the “due date”, and every angel was missing in short order. This past Sunday, the enormous amount of beautifully wrapped gifts, Christmas bags filled to the top, bicycles adorned in bows filled a major part of the lobby, and it was a joy to see so many families with little children taking it all in, knowing that they were helping make other children as full of happiness as they were. That all the gifts were visible in one place for 150 children had an impact on both young and old, and the meaning of giving spoke loud and clear.
Then, there’s the Hebron school kids who first do fundraisers to have money to spend so that any families in their area are blessed with food and presents under their tree — and they help deliver that joy. The many who are the givers are filled with as much delight as the receivers. When youngsters know the joy of giving as kids, it hopefully implants it in their caring hearts to always be a giver. Yep, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
If you still can’t think of what to get a special friend, someone who has everything, or even your mail deliverer, just a reminder that tickets to a delightful concert on a Sunday afternoon in January might be the best gift. The Purdue University Varsity Glee Club concert will be held on Sunday, January 29 at 2 p.m. at Chesterton High School auditorium. Tickets are only $12 for adults, and $8 for students (children under 5 are free), and are available at 1st Source Bank in Chesterton and Valpo, the Valpo YMCA, and from any Valparaiso Noon Kiwanis member. And don’t forget to get yourself this gift too. It will prolong your holiday for a whole month!
I’m not sure if Mother Nature has heard about Global Warming, or if she’s just ignoring it. After an exceptionally elongated autumn, it seems we are paying for it now. I can’t imagine how awful it must be to have a job that requires you to be outside in these frigid temperatures. And I especially feel sympathy for the men and women who are outside various stores or on street corners ringing the bell for the Salvation Army buckets. That is a true dedication to volunteering, so if you happen to pass by a bell ringer as you leave a store, while you put something in the kettle, please think of putting a cup of coffee or hot chocolate in the hand not holding the bell. That might even bring a smile to a frozen face.
I hope you stay warm and cozy during this unusually frigid weather blast, and then I hope you have a great day because you deserve it. Thanks for reading. Fly your flag.
Lorrie Woycik is a freelance columnist for the Post-Tribune.
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