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HomeThe True Spirit of Christmas, 2010
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 25th, 2010 8:08 AM |
I firmly believe the greatest gift of all is the ‘giving of oneself.’ In giving, the donor receives so much in return: the beauty and grace of seeing a smile on the recipient’s face; the warmth of knowing that somebody has benefited from your generosity; the satisfaction that the world is a little better place from your giving.
I hope you are able to enjoy the beauty of this day with your loved ones. While many of us are truly blessed to be home with family today, let us also remember our brothers and sisters who are far away fighting to protect our freedom and liberties. I send this message primarily to them as well as all those who have returned from duty, especially our Wounded Warriors, and I say, “THANK YOU.”
On that note, I want to return to an authentic Christmas story which, I believe, captures the true spirit of Christmas.
This story made such an impact on me last year, it is only fitting to run it again.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, or however you celebrate, Happy Holidays!!
A Christmas Tale — 1919, The Wall Street Journal, December 2008 (more…)
Christmas 1919
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 25th, 2009 8:28 AM |
This story made such an impact on me last year, it is only fitting to run it again.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, or however you celebrate, Happy Holidays!!
LD
A Christmas Tale — 1919, The Wall Street Journal, December 2008
By HANS VON SPAKOVSKY
It’s easy to complain in the midst of a stressful holiday season. But my family has a unique remedy: We remember one special Christmas in 1919 that gave us the freedom and liberty we enjoy today. This will be the 89th anniversary of the year my father celebrated Christmas Eve deep in the snow-laden woods of Russia as he fled the Communist takeover of his homeland.
When I tell people that my father was an officer in the White Army who fought the Bolsheviks in the Russian civil war, they usually look at me with disbelief, because I am only 49. But he married and started a family later in life, after he lived through both world wars.
He had been an officer in the Russian Army in World War I; after the Bolshevik putsch he ended up fighting against them in the far north of Russia. In 1919 he was close to the Arctic Circle in the port city of Arkhangelsk, where at the beginning of the year, six feet of snow fell and the temperature was regularly 30 degrees below zero. (more…)
