Friday, August 24, 2007

Thank you Father Christmas.

Post 295 - - - - - Friday, 24th August, 2007.

Hello Everyone ~~ How are things with you all ? I hope everything is
going well for you. I am fine and the weather has been much nicer, with
more peasant days to come. Only one week left of Winter, so we may
not get more very cold days. Now if we could get some of the rain that
is falling in Queensland.

It is Sandy 's birthday on the 24th, September, not August. Sorry
about that. Let's hope I remember in September !!




This is a picture of the Memorial Gardens in Nathalia, (where I lived for 28 years.)
My brother-in-law built these and provided the land in memory of the fallen
from Nathalia. My first husband, his brother helped him with some of the work.
They lost a brother in W W 2, who was killed in a plane crash over Ireland.
There are more pictures from this. There are the names of all the soldiers who
died and a Pine Tree from Lone Pine where so many died, grown from a seed.
My B-I-L presented it to Nathalia Council and they now maintain it.

The story I have tonight is called Thank You Father Christmas.

Two years ago, whilst being Santa, I was walking through our open air
mall in 110 degree heat looking forward to getting to the air-conditioning,
when I spied a little girl with no hair and a scarf on her head. I walked
up to her and said hello and then went to where I was going. As the week
went on, I saw her most days and had a little talk with her and wished there
was something more I could do. It was on my mind on Christmas day, then
in my local paper I read this in the Letters to the Editor.

Subject : Thank you Father Christmas.

Dear Sir/Madam.

Mt partner, daughter and I visited family in Alice Springs over the
Christmas break. My daughter has a cancer called neuroblastoma.
My daughter had her sixth birthday while we were in Alice Springs.

Each day we traveled to the shopping precinct to do our Christmas
shopping. Each one of those days, my daughter was very excited to
see Father Christmas doing his rounds saying hello to all the
children. Lauryn first saw Father Christmas in the middle of the
Todd Mall. She walked away from that first encounter telling us
that he wasn't one of the pretend Father Christmas', he was the real
one. I would like to say a big thank you to him,out there greeting
kids in very hot weather wearing an outfit that is generally regarded
as being hot to wear in more temperate of climates.

Each day, on seeing Lauryn he would make a bee line for her and
spend time with her. Thank you Father Christmas for making my
little girl very happy.

P.S. Thanks for delivering her bicycle to our house in Perth as she
requested. She was very excited.
Regards. . . .

I still feel humble and get a tear to the eye when I think of it, whilst
I thought I needed t do more for her, I gave her exactly what she
needed. Author Unknown.
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Joke time folks - - - -

Ed was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary and his wife was
very angry. She told him : "Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift
in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in less than 6 seconds, AND
IT BETTER BE THERE !!"

The next morning Ed got up early and went to work. When his wife
woke up and looked out the window and sure enough there was a
boxed gift in the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, brought
the box back into the house. She opened it and found a brand new
bathroom scale.

Ed has been missing since Friday. Stupid, stupid man !!.
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Why did the blonde resolve to have only three children ?
She heard that one out of every four children born in the
world is Chinese.
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A blonde walks into a library and orders a hamburger, fries and a coke.

The librarian replies, "Can't you read the sign? We are a library."

The blonde whispers . . . " A hamburger, fries and a coke."
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What do you call Bob the Builder when he retires ? Bob !!
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A motorist a stranger to the neighborhood, went into the
village pub late one evening and said to the landlord, "Is
there a large black dog in this village that wears a white collar ?"

The publican ponders for a moment and then said, "I cannot
recollect any such animal."
"Oh dear," muttered the motorist, "then I must have run over
the vicar."
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The couple had just reached retirement age, but Mr.Robinson was
a very worried man.
"We don't really have enough to live on." he confessed to his wife.
"Sure, our pension is enough to survive on - - but we lack sufficient
savings to give us a few extra pleasures like the occasional evening
at the cinema or a decent holiday once a year."

"Don't worry," replied Mrs. Robinson. "I've managed to save a few
thousand pounds."
"However did you manage that ?"
"Well," said Mrs Robinson, a bit shyly, every time you made love to
me these past thirty years I've put fifty pence in my own bank account."

"But why did you keep it a secret all these years?" demanded Mr
Robinson. "If I'd known about it, I'd have given you all my business."
<><>

A week or so ago, I was given an Inspirational award by Janice
and I have to choose 5 people to pass this on to. I am
sorry it can't go to all my blogging friends, but here are my 5.

Sue
at Susies Space who is off on a cruise at present but is an inspiration.
Ann at rocrebelgranny who inspires us all.
Carole at Peas Corner, always an inspiration.
Karen who overcomes great difficulties and is an inspiration.
Leann who teaches us many lessons to inspire us.

I will close for tonight, my friends. Take great care and have a wonderful
weekend. Be happy and be kind to each other. Love and best wishes to you all.
Cheers, Merle.
Post 295 - - - - Friday, 24th August, 2007.
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13 comments:

Karen said...

Merle,

I am truly touched for the award, thank you so much!! You are an inspiration to me too with your incredible attitude towards life and not letting much get you down. Your posts are wonderful and positive, whether it's a laugh or something heartwarming.

I enjoyed reading the story about Father Christmas - that's really what life is about, isn't it?! Giving unto others.

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you again, my sweet friend.

Love & hugs,
Karen

Your Pal, David Hoskins said...

You are real old.

Bob said...

Hi Merle, I watched the V8 Supercar race from Queensland a few weeks ago and it looked like they needed a drop of rain. Hope you get some your way soon. Bob.

smilnsigh said...

One week left of Winter, for you. And here, we are headed into Autumn. I love it every time reminded of the different hemispheres.

Mari-Nanci

Hale McKay said...

Hello, Merle. Sorry I haven't visited or commented in a while. It was payback though, as I just finished reading through your posts in attempt to catch up - nearly three weeks worth of them!

As usual your posts were chock-full of interesting facts and a lot of laughs.

JunieRose2005 said...

Hi Merle,

Funny jokes, as always- and I loved that santa story!

Wanted to tell you I have something for you at my place.

Hugs))


June

Jeanette said...

Hi Dear Merle. One week left of winter Yippeeee!!Hope we get some good spring rains.
Loved your father Christmas story, and the little girls wish come true. Ive been to the Todd st Mall many times. had a good chuckle at the jokes.
Take care Merle have a great weekend, Love jan

Gattina said...

Looks very nice this memorial garden ! We have a lot of them here in Belgium especially in the Ardennes where so many people died in WW1 and 2. I don't like to think of Christmas yet, we have such a bad summer so I hope we will have it in winter lol, just like you !

Unknown said...

I’ll remember that story the next time I play Santa.

audrey` said...

Dearest Merle
How are you?
I didn't drop by this week =)
Take care, my friend.

Lady Di Tn said...

Good Post Merle

In the mornings I have my second cup of coffee while reading your blog. It is such a nice way to start my day . I don't like it when I have to hit the ground running and have to wait until the afternoon to read the blog.

Good News. At 9pm last night it rained just a little but it was WONDERFUL. When I took Maggie for her morning run, I noticed that under the bushes and trees the ground was still dry. But we are so THANKFUL for any Heavenly sent wetness.

Have a great weekend and it is only 4 months until Christmas so what a timely post.

love and prayers

Kerri said...

I've missed visiting you Merle and reading you funny and inspiring posts. Sorry I've not been by for a while. I hope you're keeping well.
I loved the Santa story...so sweet, and the parachute story is a beauty too. Both nice reminders to take time to recognize others and care about them.
I enjoyed reading the 8 facts about you too :)
I always love your jokes too :)
Thanks Merle xox

Val said...

How interesting to read about your connection with the memorial Gardens in Nathalia. One thing that really impresses still after more than 30 years here is how much Australians honor their war dead, through memorials such as these and the Avenues of Honor planted with beautiful trees.