How does Santa get down the chimney?

For parents of today’s smart little kids, it’s a vexing problem to explain how Santa can get himself (and their toys) down the chimney.
It’s a little easier to explain his flight path, but the chimney problem is a practical matter. How can he land on the roof, scramble down the chimney, stuff stockings and leave toys, all in a flash of time?
Maybe he’s just a show-off. What else could you expect from a guy who can fly around the world and make his deliveries in just one night.
Some modern thinkers claim he has discovered the secrets of miniaturization. But kids find it hard to understand how he can make himself really small. Scientists at the North Pole are working on the technology so it could be easier next year.
If there’s no chimney, Santa could walk right in the front door, but then there’s the problem of getting down from the roof and back up there again.
Fortunately, the rules of Christmas Eve dictate that kids have to be asleep when Santa comes. If their parents are finished putting toys together, they will be asleep too. So no one will ever know for sure how he does it.
One thing is certain, he deserves his milk and cookies. So be sure to put them out, and don’t forget to leave him carrots for his reindeer. Santa and Rudolph will appreciate that.
Comment online ValleyBugler.com

Add a tradition that will enRich your holidays!

Help your children enjoy the benefits of charitable giving at an early age.
Parents sometimes have the feeling that Christmas has become little more than an attempt to fulfill the expectations of their children.
It can be more. Done correctly, adding the idea of helping others during the holidays can bring them joy right now. It can create a holiday tradition that will enrich the season for the rest of their lives.
You can start early by explaining to small children that some people may not have Christmas dinner without help from the bell-ringing Santas. Kids will love putting a few coins into the kettle.
Those who believe in Santa Claus may wonder why there are so many Santas and why they don’t leave toys for every child. Explain that Santa needs help. The children will be thrilled with the idea of picking out a toy that Santa could give to a poor child.
It’s easy for parents to feel they are a little poor themselves this year. Still, a gift doesn’t have to be expensive, and the joy of choosing one could be something a child looks forward to each year in the future. Choosing a gift should be fun and an expression of love.
A story about why other kids may not get much for Christmas could be in order. Tell your children about recent floods or hurricanes that destroyed other kids’ parents’ homes and belongings. Don’t make the story too frightening.
Older kids would enjoy helping you select the cause you choose to support this year. Make the choices interesting and encourage them to give part of their cash Christmas gifts to help others. Teens would enjoy going with you to help serve a free dinner at the church or soup kitchen. Inviting teen nieces, nephews or pals to join you is a plus.

The reason…

It was a simple scene that first Christmas – a rough room, a young couple and nothing but a feeding trough to put the child in. It was probably quite cold and with family far away there was little help. Not exactly the Hallmark moment we like to show in Christmas pageants. And yet this rustic scene marked the greatest event in the history of mankind.
God’s Son became human and came to earth to save us. God had promised to send a Messiah, one who would save His people. He could have easily burst on the scene as a full grown man, a seven foot warrior with fiery eyes and arms of steel. This was what many people were looking for, but it wasn’t how God did it. He arrived in the arms of a young girl. He was, as another of our authors put it, “a very small package, wrapped in rags, given from the heart of God. The perfect gift.”
God gave His only Son to die in our place so that we, in all our brokenness, could know forgiveness. He came so that we could know what love feels like, real love – love that never leaves, love that never disappoints, love that is never betrayed. He sent His Son into a corrupted world to bring us hope.
How are you doing this Christmas?
Are you having a hard time finding hope in the world? Are you having a hard time finding peace? It doesn’t have to be that way. You can have peace and find hope and know forgiveness through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer. Praying is simply talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. Here’s a suggested prayer:
Lord Jesus, I want to know You personally. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to You and ask You to come in as my Saviour and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Bring peace to my world this Christmas. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.
If this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, pray it right now and Christ will come into your life as He promised. If you invited Jesus Christ into your life, thank God often that He is in your life, that He will never leave you and that you have eternal life.
Excerpted from www.thoughts-about-god.com

SHOP LOCAL AND WIN! is back!

It’s that time of year again – Holiday Shopping Season! This will be the fourth season of the Shop Local & Win campaign: November 25, 2011 – January 6, 2012
Goal: To encourage shopping local during the holiday season
How does it work?
Shoppers bring in receipts for any amount and dated from 11/25/2011 – 1/6/2012
For every receipt from a business that isn’t yet a Chamber member, they would receive a ticket into the weekly prize drawing
For every receipt from a Kelso Longview Chamber of Commerce Member company they will receive five tickets to be entered into the weekly prize drawing.
Prize drawing live on our weekly radio show, Your Chamber Connection, Every Wednesday 3:00-4:00 pm, AM 1400.
Opportunity for you:
Donate 1 to 10 prizes for the drawings and have your business announced throughout the campaign as a sponsor! – It’s that easy!
Thank you to our current prize sponsors:
Banda’s Bouquets, Copies Today Speedy Litho, Cowlitz River Rigging, Edward Jones Nick Lemiere, Elder Options, Esteem Salon, Exclaim Media, Farm Dog Bakery, Global Images Graphic Design & Marketing, Heritage Bank, Highlander Cycling, Hospice Thrift Shoppe (CHHH), Koelsch Senior Communities, Knotty Wares, Lemondrop Photography, Mama Nano’s, Mike Wallin Realtor Prudential NW Properties, OmOriginals Marketing, Parr’s Cars & RV’s. Payton’s Produce, PSA Health Care, Red Lion Hotel & Conference Center, Twin City Bank, Valley Bugler, Zojo’s Coffee Roasting, Mr.C’s Photography, and Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts.
If you are a local business and interested in donating for the Shop Local & Win campaign, contact the Kelso Longview Chamber at 360.423.8400. (Prizes must be collected by November 4, 2011.)
The Kelso Longview Chamber of Commerce is a business organization with member companies representing businesses in Cowlitz County.

Go green, get some green and help your neighbors

The Holiday season is a time when people give thanks and look for ways to help their community and neighbors in need. The car you no longer need will help the environment, the community and your wallet when you donate it to charity.
Cars4Charities will gladly handle the entire car donation process for you, have your car picked up fast and free and send the proceeds to the charity you select from their extensive list. Their list of charities not only includes National ones such as the American Foundation for the Blind, Prevent Cancer Foundation, Autism Speaks, Diabetes Research Institute, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Teach for America, Cancer Research Institute, but also local charities in the Greater Vancouver area like food banks and homeless shelters, etc.
Besides helping a very needy charity, you’ll get a tax deduction of at least $500 on your itemized federal return. Cars4Charities even allows you the ability to complete the entire car donation process online at your convenience. The online option is better for the environment because it reduces the use of paper and other consumables.  If your car is in poor condition, Cars4Charities will make sure it is properly recycled.
Complete details are available at www.cars4charities.org/ or 1-866-448-3487 (GIVE-4-US).

Birth of a NEW Tradition 2011

As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods, merchandise that has been produced at the  expense of American labor. This year will be different.
This year Americans will give the gift of genuine concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that at gift giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands. Yes there is!
It’s time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper?
Everyone, yes EVERYONE, gets his or her hair cut. How about gift certificates from your local American hair salon or barber?
Gym membership? It’s appropriate for all ages that are thinking about some health improvement.
Who wouldn’t appreciate getting their car detailed by a local shop?
Perhaps that grateful “extravagant” gift receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course….
There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants all offering gift certificates. And, if your intended isn’t the fancy eatery sort, what about a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint.
Remember, folks, this isn’t about big National chains: this is about supporting your hometown. (Yes, they employ community members, but large amounts of profit leave the area). Americans with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open. How many people couldn’t use an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle, done at a shop run by the American working guy?
Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a local cleaning lady for a day.
OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery and beautiful wooden boxes. Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave your  server a nice tip. Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.
Honestly, do we REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese lights for the house? When you buy a five-dollar string of lights, about fifty cents stays in the community.
You see, Christmas is no longer about draining American pockets so that China can build another  glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams.  And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn’t imagine.
THIS is the new American Christmas tradition.
Share with friends, post it to discussion groups, throw up a post on  Craig’s list in the Rants and Raves section in your city, and/or send it to the editor of your local papers like I did, and radio stations and TV news  departments. This is a revolution of caring about each other, and isn’t that what Christmas is about?
Your local Chamber will have a business directory, and perhaps just taking the time to look more closely at those small storefronts will prove fruitful in discovering some local gems.
Buy American, local and community oriented as often as you can – we need the boost! Shop local this Christmas – let’s all do our part.

A Christmas Story of the White Envelopes

It’s just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas—oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it-overspending…the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma—the gifts given in desperation because you couldn’t think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black.
These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler’s ears.
It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn’t acknowledge defeat.
Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.”
Mike loved kids-all kids-and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That’s when the idea for his present came.
That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church.
On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me.
His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years.
For each Christmas, I followed the tradition—one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.
The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal it’s contents.
As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn’t end there.
You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more. Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad.
The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike’s spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.
May we all remember each other, and the Real reason for the season, and His true spirit this year and always. God bless—pass this along to your friends and loved ones.
— Copyright © 1982 Nancy W. Gavin
The story first appeared in Woman’s Day magazine in 1982. My mom had sent the story in as a contest entry in which she subsequently won first place. Unfortunately, she passed away from cancer two years after the story was published. Our family still keeps the tradition started by her and my father and we have passed it on to our children. Feel free to use the story. It gives me and my sisters great joy to know that it lives on and has hopefully inspired others to reach out in a way that truly honors the spirit of Christmas. — Kevin Gavin

The Story of ‘Silent Night’

By Dick Smolinski
Father Joseph Mohr sat at the old organ. His fingers stretched over the keys, forming the notes of a chord. He took a deep breath and pressed down. Nothing. He lifted his fingers and tried again. Silence echoed through the church.
Father Joseph shook his head. It was no use. The pipes were rusted, the bellows mildewed. The organ had been wheezing and growing quieter for months, and Father Joseph had been hoping it would hold together until the organ builder arrived to repair it in the spring. But now, on December 23, 1818, the organ had finally given out. St. Nicholas Church would have no music for Christmas.
Father Joseph sighed. Maybe a brisk walk would make him feel better. He pulled on his overcoat and stepped out into the night. His white breath puffed out before him. Moonlight sparkled off the snow-crusted trees and houses in the village of Oberndorf. Father Joseph crunched through the snowy streets to the edge of the little Austrian town and climbed the path leading up the mountain.
From high above Oberndorf, Father Joseph watched the Salzach River ripple past St. Nicholas Church. In the spring, when melting snow flowed down the mountains and the river swelled in its banks, water lapped at the foundation of the church. It was moisture from the flooding river that had caused the organ to mildew and rust.
Father Joseph looked out over the Austrian Alps. Stars shone above in the still and silent night.
Silent night? Father Joseph stopped. Of course! “Silent Night!” He had written a poem a few years before, when he had first become a priest, and he had titled it “Silent Night.”
Father Joseph scrambled down the mountain. Suddenly he knew how to bring music to the church.
The next morning, Father Joseph set out on another walk. This time he carried his poem. And this time he knew exactly where he was going — to see his friend Franz Gruber, the organist for St. Nicholas, in the next village.
Franz Gruber was surprised to see the priest so far from home on Christmas Eve, and even more surprised when Father Joseph handed him the poem.
That night Father Joseph and Franz Gruber stood at the altar of St. Nicholas Church. Father Joseph held his guitar. He could see members of the congregation giving each other puzzled looks. They had never heard a guitar played in church before, and certainly not during midnight mass on Christmas Eve, the holiest night of the year.
Father Joseph picked out a few notes on the guitar, and he and Franz Gruber began to sing. Their two voices rang out, joined by the church choir on the chorus. Franz Gruber’s melody matched the simplicity and honesty of Father Joseph’s words.
When the last notes faded into the night, the congregation remained still for a moment, then began to clap their hands. Applause filled the church. Father Joseph’s plan to bring music to St. Nicholas Church had worked.
A few months later, the organ builder arrived in Oberndorf and found the words and music to “Silent Night” lying on the organ. The song enchanted him, and when he left, he took a copy of it with him.
The organ builder gave the song to two families of traveling singers who lived near his home. The traveling singers performed “Silent Night” in concerts all over Europe, and soon the song spread throughout the world.
Today, cathedral choirs and carolers from New York to New Zealand sing the simple song that was first played in a mountain church in Austria on Christmas Eve nearly 200 years ago.