Thanks for Voting! Richard's Tree Won !

Oh Christmas Tree I'll VOTE for Thee!

I received something forwarded from Katie that I feel sure each and every one of you will want to cast a vote. Actually you can vote one time each day. Please read the following letter sent from someone we don't know but certainly can relate to and then go to the Neiman Marcus website. If by chance you are in Dallas this weekend for the White Rock Marathon benefitting Texas Scottish Rite Hospital or anytime this holiday season, I hope you'll get a chance to see this in person at the downtown NM store.

Hi – strange request but I could use your help for a friend. She has a son, Richard, who was born with Poland's syndrome and without one of his hands and he is missing the pectoral muscle on the same side. Richard is the strongest, most amazing child and when he was in kindergarten his friends would tuck their arms into their sleeves with only their elbow hanging out so they could "be more like Richard" because he was "so cool".

Richard is now 8 ½ and Neiman Marcus solicited children for their ideas for the Christmas Trees in the downtown Dallas windows of Neiman's. Richard's tree was chosen and he got the chance to work with the designers at Neiman's to build his tree. His idea was to build a tree of all the gifts that Texas Scottish Rite Hospital has given to children he has met over the years (wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, crutches and the like). They were so impressed in working with him that Home and Garden Television (HGTV) recently did a story on the Neiman's trees and wanted to interview Richard for their story.

So now … Neiman's chose 6 trees and they were unveiled last week in downtown Dallas. They have opened up voting to the public for our favorite tree and well … here I am shamelessly asking you to go and vote for Richard because I know how deeply winning this would be for him. He has struggled with so many things that other little boys unknowingly take for granted and I have watched he and his family struggle and grow stronger over the years.

Just last month Richard was told by one of his teachers that if she were his mother she wouldn't have bought him tie shoes she would buy him Velcro shoes as she watched him struggle to tie his shoes on the playground. He came home in tears. He and and his mom, Lori, worked for literally years to learn to tie his shoes so he could wear tie shoes like his brothers and his friends. I can't imagine how I would have reacted … but not Lori … She just told him that "well, Richard, this is why god gave you to me – because he knew I wouldn't sell you short. You can wear tie shoes and tie them just like all the other boys – and I am raising you to be a man and a man you are already becoming."

I want him to win this one and I want his mom to have this win for him (and for her too). I want it for Lori because of the challenges she has faced with the schools and our community. I have a hard time writing and talking about him because of how deeply I have experienced this struggle from the outside and how deeply I love my friend and cannot begin to imagine the strength she has had to muster for things I know I have unknowingly taken for granted as a mother.

Sorry for the diatribe but if you could , would you please vote for Richard's tree on the Neiman's website (notice the prosthetic hands reaching to the sky he designed at the top ….:) – FYI you can vote once a day! NOTE: Vote for the 4th tree on the page

Here is the link to vote:

http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/poll.jhtml?pollCode=trees&icid=LocalStorePageTwo

Designer Richard Fogarty with his tree

It's That Time of Year...

One of the things I most love about Christmas is that I can count on traditions...I am a sentimental person and I married a sentimental guy... course unlike me he is a little better at throwing out stuff ...I still have Katie's blankie and Adam's little overalls (as well as other countles boxes of stuff that brings back so many wonderful memories I can't bear to toss). Anyway I digress...

One of the things that has become a tradition in our family for the past 20 some odd years is the Men's Group Christmas Party. It always takes place in the home of the couple that has the newest home (consequently I have hosted a lot!)

This year it was at Susan and Bryan Rossman's home-thanks so much for hosting!

If you want to read more about the Men's Group you can go to our archives in the blog "Friends" [9-2-08]

To our dear friends in the Men's Group - we treasure your friendship and your prayers!

Merry Merry Christmas and here's to the next 20 years!

from l to r: Gary & Kelly Hodge, Elam & Betty Swann, Bill & Nancy Blomdahl,

Peggy & John Berry, Bryan & Susan Rossman, & us

~~~~~~~~

A somewhat newer tradition is one that began after our kids left home....Our friends Rick & Jane Rogers have a wedding anniversary on Dec. 1 and they asked us one year to babysit their daughter Sarah and we gladly said yes. Now we have been doing this for several years. Sarah and I make a craft (we started with painting an apron for her and then cooking dinner together)...some years the crafts were a total flop! Last year we made a gingerbread house and it was so successful that we did it again this year! A lot of fun!

Sarah brought a "sister" this year - the Rogers' exchange student from China - Yier Yin, whom we call Belle...Here they are making their Gingerbread Houses.

We had so much fun eating fondue for dinner (cheese & chocolate!) It was Belle's first time to eat fondue.

It was so much fun to do Christmas things with Belle and to glimpse it through her eyes. She is from Shang Hai, China and shared that in her country Christmas is commercialized and very few homes decorate. Merchants decorate the streets and stores in order to sell things. She asked me to explain the difference between Santa Claus and Jesus. Sarah helped me share a little.

I had planned to put up a lot of Christmas decorations but we were having so much fun that never got done. As I put up the manger the next night I was sad not to have Belle with me I would have liked to talk to her more and share how much I love putting up the manger - it is really my favorite part of decorating. I always wonder about that first Christmas and I strive to remember what the real reason for the season is, not getting lost in the stress and preparations. Belle made me focus on what my home reflects and she made me think of what I need to reflect. I think I decorated a bit differently this year...not more simply (can't go there yet!) but with a different goal in mind. I don't want our Savior Jesus to be outdone by Santa. I don't want anyone who is a guest in our home to miss who and why we rejoice.