Christmas Spirit

First of all, I'd like to say... Jesus, why did you choose to be born during cold and flu season???? I think there is no worse feeling than being sick during the Holidays. I, personally, have been blessed with a cough, stuffy nose and sore throat this year. I am trying to hang in there, as 20 of John's closest friends are coming to par-tay at my house tonight. Ah well. There's nothing a little spiked Egg Nog and Wassle won't cure.

At any rate, I figured it was time to update my blog as I have been absent from writing for over a month. These past few weeks have been consumed by my birthday, my brother's birthday, Thanksgiving, office parties, cookie making and the Integic Christmas party.

For my birthday, I was taken out to dinner on several occasions by several different people which is always nice. But the most awesome thing I did was go to DC with John and my brother, Tony, to see Movin' Out. If any of you have talked to me for more than 2 seconds, you would know that I am a huge Billy Joel fan, as is my brother. So in honor of me turning 26 and Tony turning 35, we thought what better way to celebrate than by catching the show. It was a fantastic show, my only regret is that Billy Joel himself didn't show up.

Thanksgiving was spent with my family members on my sister's farm in Waaaarnton. It's amazing how different me and my siblings can be -- Lisa lives on a 50 acre horse farm, Jim lives in the heart of Tokyo, Tony lives in Rappahanock County renting a log cabin and John and I live in Levittown. It's a wonder we all sprung from the same womb.

So the past few weeks I've been doing the Christmas thing-- watching Kenny Logins make an ass of himself at the Integic party, making 25 dozen cookies, cross-stitching Mikey a Kirby ornament, you know, the usual.

But I must say that with all that is going on, my favorite event thus far would have to be my recent visit to a food shelter in Chantilly. A co-worker and I organized a Food and Toys for Tots drive for my company this month. After a few weeks of collecting, we managed to come up with hundreds of toys and tons of food items. It was our job to deliver the food to the Food Pantry. When we dropped the items off, I asked one of the volunteers if she could give me a tour of the facility. It was amazing. She walked us past dozens and dozens of shelves stocked to the ceiling with food. Not only were all the shelves stocked full, but the hallways of the entire Food Pantry were lined floor to ceiling with food that they couldn't fit on the shelves! She said that during the holidays, the outpouring of food is just overwhelming. However, once Christmas ends, they start having shortages. She said that by June, all the shelves are bare. How sad. Then she took us past the 12 freezers filled with meat, all the shelves filled with cereal and soups and showed us the less-stocked sections. There was one shelf labeled "personal items" that was practically bare. She told us that they cannot keep enough toothpaste, toothbrushes, feminine products, soap, deodorant and shampoo on the shelves. She told us that she will go through 300 tubes of toothpaste in one month. Although people always are more than willing to give food, they never even consider donating these items. What is worse, is that food stamps do not cover these items either -- food stamps are soley for food.

In addition, she said that they have to ration many items. Each family is only allowed 1 bottle of juice per month. They can only have 1 can of tuna per family member per month. They are allowed 1 jar of spaghetti sauce a month. Currently, families are allowed unlimited cans of soup, but once the summer hits, those too will be rationed.

So needless to say, John and I were in Price Club the very next day stocking up on toothpaste and tampons and tuna and juice. I drove to the shelter the very next day and dropped it all off. It amazes me how many people out there are in need and how critical is it that we all do our part. For Mikey, it's donating blood. For me, it's donating food. We all have our interests, and I just pray that we all continue to give, especially once Christmas is over because that is when charity and humanity is needed the most.