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Toys for Tots is giving Santa Claus a run for his money.

The Marine Corps’ annual drive has increased its goals for the Philadelphia tiffany region this year because the recession and high unemployment threaten to deprive many children of getting a gift over the holidays.

This year’s goal is 150,000 toys, up from last year’s original target of 60,000, announced Brian P. Tierney, chief executive officer of Philadelphia Media Holdings, at a news conference yesterday.

Hopes were boosted by the overwhelming public support of last year’s drive.

By early December last year, donations were falling far short, when the company that produces The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com stepped up to the plate.

“This was 10 days before Christmas, and there were thousands of children who weren’t going to have a Christmas,” Tierney said.

A “toy emergency” was declared, the word was spread with help of newspaper and online ads, and the public responded big-time.

The final tally: about 139,000 toys.

Even more are needed this year because of the troubled economy, said Tierney and Gunnery tiffany earrings Sgt. David Pierson, speaking behind an array of footballs, plush toys, dolls, and games in the lobby of the Inquirer Building.

The collection, worth $5,000, was a new gift from the company, in addition to $4,500 in other donations.

The Inquirer Building, at Broad and Callowhill Streets, and the company’s printing plant in Upper Merion Township are just two of dozens of locations throughout the area — including schools, museums, offices, and restaurants — where toys can be dropped off.

Lincoln Financial Field will be a major collection point Dec. 20, when the Eagles play the San Francisco 49ers.

To find a spot, go to www.toysfortotsphila.org . For locations, click on “Donate Toys,” and be sure to click “Next” in the upper right to browse for additional listings.

Money can be donated through the Web site or by mailing a check payable to Toys for Tots of Philadelphia tiffany key rings to 2838-98 Woodhaven Rd., Philadelphia 19154.

Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.

Tags: tiffany key rings

A large part of the Christmas tiffany jewellery season involves songs, gathering with friends and loved ones and food. A local church, El Buen Pastor, has managed to combine all three for the past decade.

In the late 1990s Debbie Arrieta decided to gather the church’s older youth and organize Christmas caroling activities. The idea began to gain popularity.

“From there it kind of grew into even the primary-age students wanted to come and sing with us. And then even adults that wanted us to go to there homes wanted to tag along.”

The caroling takes place a few days before Christmas. About 15 church members hop in their cars and go to friends’, relatives’ and other members’ homes to sing. By the end of the evening its not unusual for the caroling group that was less than 20 people to have grown to more than 40 as people being sung to decide to go sing to others.

Andrew Arrieta started caroling with the group when he was 11 years old. He said he’s never tired of the annual activity.

“It’s being together that’s a lot of fun. The cars are all packed with people, you’re blasting Christmas tiffany money clips music and you’re trying to be the first one to get to the door,” Andrew Arrieta said.

Some of the older carolers enjoy watching the children participate as much as they do singing themselves.

“I really love to see the kids, especially our little kids. Watching them as they’re growing every year, they look forward to it and they have so much fun,” church member Irma Dominguez said. “I think it’s mutual, because we have fun being together first and laughing and joking and singing.”

The children jockey for position to determine who rings the doorbell at each house. But the caroling does not start until everyone has arrived, which can be tricky with a caravan of people trying to follow homemade maps guiding them around the city.

The song list remains the same from year-to-year. There’s about 15 tunes that include many of the classics — “Silent Night,” “Feliz Navidad,” “Jingle Bells,” and others. Alicia Mondragon said her favorite is “Joy to the World” because it captures the true meaning of Christmas, the arrival of Christ.

Each home — there’s about 15 visited each year — is treated to one song. Usually, which song is performed is decided tiffany pendants only minutes before the doorbell is rung.

The carolers will go to homes of non-church members upon request. Sometimes the new people they’re singing to don’t know if they should give them gifts or money. Church members say they don’t want anything. They sing for the joy of it.

“It’s a great experience that we do. It’s not a chore, it’s a fun thing that we do,” Dominguez said.

After caroling the group gathers at church member Yolonda Mondragon’s home where there’s plenty of food waiting. The carolers are especailly fond of her quesadillas, and the hot chocolate is always nice after singing for a couple hours in 30-degree weather.

The evening for the group can be summed up in the advice Debbie Arrieta gives everyone before they leave to go tiffany earrings caroling.

“Make sure you bring Christmas move it, play it really loud, enjoy yourself, be careful, have a good time and keep Christ in mind,” she says.

Tags: tiffany earrings, tiffany money clips, tiffany pendants

IN PAST YEARS, my husband, Alan, and I made an elaborate ritual of the Christmas tiffany jewelry stockings we gave each other. (Our young twin boys were content with kazoos and holiday blowers from the five-and-dime.) We would invariably insist to each other that there was just no time, so sorry, there will be no stocking for you–then, just a few hours before dawn on Christmas morning, we would each remove a ridiculously plump stocking from its hiding place and prop it up at the foot of our bed.

The stockings were bounties of delights, fulfilling a childhood fantasy of no-holds-barred gift giving and getting. From my husband, I’ve received the world’s most flattering kitchen apron, tiny floral-patterned notebooks, and French chocolates. From me, he has received cashmere socks, a hard-to-find book of literary essays, and a Venetian-printed photo album. All the gifts were admired, but many (a ceramic lemon squeezer, a fold-up plastic shopping bag) were soon all but forgotten. Such items would sit on a sideboard or a bureau for many months until Alan or I would be embarrassed by the approach of the next holiday season and, at last, put them in a drawer.

Last year, when I started to think about putting together a Christmas stocking for my husband, I felt anxious instead of anticipatory. The market had crashed, some money we had been counting on had fallen through, and we had been adhering to an austere budget that just one of our traditional stockings, much less two, would have blown. So we decided we wouldn’t shop to fill them. Instead, we would unearth the hidden treasures that we already had in our basement, attic, or home offices. We hardly knew what was buried in the backs of those places. Surely there would be some loot worth discovering.

One December morning, I did just that and found more than enough: pretty seed packets for pendants growing poppies, a leather-bound notebook still in its plastic wrap, some Burt’s Bees lip balm, small unopened pots of exotic fruit jam that we had brought back from a trip to Sicily. For me, the exercise embodied what so many of us have learned, thanks to an otherwise thankless recession: We’re more resourceful than we thought, and in some ways, we can do just as happily with less and might even consider ourselves better off for it. It pained me to realize how much Alan and I had spent on frivolities and how little I would ultimately miss some of the things I was forgoing.

As I expanded my perception of what could fill a stocking (would a long-lost appliance manual qualify as a gift? What about the tiny flathead screwdriver that perpetually went AWOL?), I also came to see that some things should be wrapped and examined regularly, the better to appreciate them. Once it was removed from its pretty paper, that screwdriver, which we use to replace the batteries in the kids’ toys, would be revealed as more than just a tool; it would be a symbol of all the joy and frustrations of parenthood, a shorthand joke Alan and I would both immediately get. Same goes for the two wrapped matchboxes saved from the restaurants where we had had our very first dates, which I placed in my husband’s stocking. Despite the fact that they had been gathering dust in a junk drawer for years, I knew Alan would find them (and the gesture) romantic.

I also threw in some handfuls of leftover Halloween candy and a traditional clementine for the heel and–perhaps because assembling the stocking required more ingenuity than cash–found myself more pleased than ever with what I was giving. The stocking hunting went so well, in fact, that Alan and I decided not to purchase presents earrings for each other, either. Our house was already overflowing with things we owned but didn’t use, partly because we couldn’t take the time to make them work. It was then that I realized that my Christmas wish list was largely made up of tasks I desperately wanted completed, not products to be purchased. For example, I had bought an old stereo at a street sale years earlier and had never set it up, all because it lacked an antenna. Alan promised to take that on. There were also two blue vine-patterned planters crying out for some actual plants. That job would be mine.

On Christmas morning, opening our stocking packages was more fun than it had ever been. Usually my husband and I make little noises of appreciation–Awww–and smile a lot. This time we laughed loud and hard. The leather-bound journal I had found in the basement and put in my husband’s stocking? Apparently, the poor man had spent most of December turning the house upside down looking for it. That pot of Burt’s Bees lip balm was already half dug-out (next time I’ll check). Instead of buying me a $12 jar of fancy peanut butter from Williams-Sonoma, Alan had taken an old Mason jar, filled it with chocolate chips, and twisted two sparkly green pipe cleaners from the kids’ craft supplies around the top. That we both knew the chocolate chips came from the Costco bag in the freezer key rings in the kitchen cracked us up, too.

There were sentimental presents, like the matchbooks; also, a clear paperweight that Alan had given me in my stocking years earlier reappeared, this time with my favorite photo of the boys wedged inside. But as we giggled and mocked and appreciated each other’s attempts at creativity, I realized there was something to the old clich茅 that there really is no gift better than the gift of laughter. It’s even better than old-fashioned note cards from Anthropologie, and let me tell you, I really love old-fashioned note cards from Anthropologie.

Christmas came and went. And now, a year later, the plants are still thriving and brightening up our bedroom, and the stereo delivers me music as I get dressed. The paperweight keeps my bills in place, and the chocolate chips have long since been nibbled (but the Mason jar remains). All those presents cost little or nothing, but they changed the feeling of our home, made it more complete. They remind us of the joy we got from accomplishing small tasks for one another. I look forward to Christmas now, not for the fleeting treats, but for the low-stress challenge of digging up finds around the house and the assurance that, at long last, I can be sure those lingering tasks will finally be accomplished. When my kids are old enough, I can’t wait to introduce them to our family twist on the holidays, one that emphasizes humor and imagination over a good eye and an expansive budget.

By this September, as the stock market rallied and the economists started talking about the end of the recession, our spending necklaces habits began to relax a little bit. For our anniversary, Alan splurged on an expensive bottle of body cream for me, just the kind of beautifully packaged luxury it’s nice to see in your medicine cabinet–until you stop seeing it altogether because it has been there for so long, untouched. I was a little dismayed when I detected the extravagant price on our credit-card bill, but then I got over it. It will be Christmas soon enough, I thought.

SUSAN DOMINUS IS A COLUMNIST FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES.

[PULLQUOTE] “As I expanded my perception of what could fill a stocking (would a long-lost appliance manual qualify as a gift? What about the tiny flathead screwdriver that perpetually went AWOL?), I also came to see that some things should be wrapped and examined regularly, the better to appreciate them.”

Tags: earrings, key rings, necklaces

Leigh Cara Hussman has a strict rule: No Christmas music tiffany until the day after thanksgiving!

The singer/dancer from Visalia has been singing “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas” and other Yuletide favorites for two weeks, though, and loving every minute of it.

Hussman is part of the four-person act that debuts “Christmas My Way: A Sinatra Holiday Bash!” on Friday at Sierra Repertory Theatre’s Fallon House Theatre in Columbia. The show of more than 40 Frank Sinatra standards and holiday tunes runs through Dec. 20.

“I’ve been feeling very Christmassy since the end of October as a result of being here,” Hussman said. “I’m having a blast.”

She’s not alone.

“Last year at this time, I was rehearsing Ebenezer Scrooge, so this is more fun,” Michael Vodde said.

The pair, along with Katherine McLaughlin and Eric Weaver re-create a Las Vegas-style lounge act reminiscent of those performed by Sinatra and his famous Rat Pack.

“It’s not about impersonating Frank or the Rat Pack,” Hussman said. “It’s capturing the silver key rings fun-loving spirit they had, the way they’d go back and forth, rib each other with a drink in their hand. We’re capturing the same kind of showroom spirit of those performers.”

They’re doing it with their repartee but also with the music, which includes Sinatra hits “Let’s Fly Away,” “Chicago” and “Witchcraft,” along with holiday favorites “Winter Wonderland,” “Silver Bells” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

The opportunity to belt out those songs makes the show special, Hussman and Vodde said.

“I was born 40 years too late,” said Vodde, who declined to give his age other than old enough to be the uncle of the 24-year-old Hussman. “Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter: Their music is sort of universal. All generations love that material. It’s great to get to sing it with a band in front of an audience instead of in the shower.”

Of the numbers he’s assigned, his favorite has become “That’s Life,” a surprise to him, because the song was part of the Frank Sinatra tribute show he did for SRT a few years ago, and he considered it “a cheesy ’70s song.”

“I wasn’t listening to the lyrics,” Vodde said. “I started paying attention, and it’s a real anthem for lifting oneself up and going on when you’re in trouble. I love telling that story every night. I know everyone in the audience has had his own challenges in some way. If I relate to them, it becomes a deeply felt, meaningful song for me.”

Hussman, who was introduced to Sinatra when she was 18 when a cousin gave her a record of his, is hard-pressed to name her favorite in the show.

“If I had to choose one, I’d say ‘Night and Day’ or ‘I Get a Kick Out of You,’ ” Hussman said. ” ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’ is the most fun in the show. It’s getting toward the end of show, and it introduces the guys in the band.”

A three-person combo of piano, bass and drums is on stage with the four singers/dancers, and silver necklaces the musicians are very much a part of the banter that sets the scene and reveals character.

The fast-paced show presents its challenges, said Vodde, who is doing his fifth SRT show since first performing in Sonora in “State Fair.”

“It’s an interesting thing, a mix between old standards and very contemporary Manhattan Transfer four-part harmonies that the Rat Pack never did,” Vodde said. “We’re singing difficult material, and we break into dance and sing solo. That’s a challenge.”

Hussman, who just finished “No Sex Please, We’re British” for SRT, said the timing of the cast banter is the biggest challenge for her, never having done vaudevillian style comedy.

“Luckily, the cast is fantastic,” she said. “We all just hit it off and have great chemistry.”

The Rat Pack’s came from years of friendship. The SRT cast’s came from having dinner together the night before rehearsals began.

Those rehearsals have bonded them, though, and even if the calendar says it’s not Thanksgiving yet, they’re ready to ring in the holidays.

Contact reporter Lori Gilbert at (209) 546-8284 or lgilbert@recordnet.com.

Tags: silver necklaces, tiffany

Smiling, Haley Christmas tiffany jewelry rides again.

She will ride soon, anyway. Because York County will not stand for somebody stealing a golf cart from a lady with cerebral palsy.

The story of the theft of “Bye-bye,” Haley’s golf cart, ran in Thursday’s Herald. It was snatched last week from her family’s yard in Lesslie. The cart remains missing.

But by Thursday afternoon, Haley Christmas was at Andy’s Used Golf Cars in Rock Hill, deciding whether she wanted pink or blue.

Showing Haley and her father the options was a guy with working man’s gear oil on his hands and tears running down his face named Andy Clabough. A man who heard about the theft and heard from his customers who wanted to donate and strangers who wanted to donate, and without anybody asking, he offered to build a new cart for free.

“Blue!” squealed Haley.

“Blue it is!” called out Clabough.

Before Thursday, Andy Clabough had never heard of Haley Christmas rings. Yet, before 8 a.m., calls were coming in to Clabough with offers to help.

A guy named Wayne Logan who took his electric cart there for service offered up his cart, no strings attached. Since Haley needed gas, Logan just said, “Put a sign on mine and sell it and use the money for Haley.”

Clabough decided right then and there that this girl was going to get a cart, if he had to pay for it himself.

“I never had a morning like this in my whole life,” Clabough said. “This is about the most amazing thing I ever saw. I come to work today, and I found out that people care so much more about a little lady who had her golf cart stolen than anything else.

“Hit me right in the gut, it did. Been crying all day.”

Clabough took an old plastic jar that once held pretzels and made it into a collection box. People called and offered to bring in cash. One guy offered $400.

A lady named Frances McEntee, who before Thursday never heard of Clabough or the Christmas bracelets family, started e-mailing and calling friends and fellow parents at St. Anne Catholic School to raise money because she could not sit idly by after reading of this dastardly deed. The school forwarded the e-mail to hundreds.

“I went to the dentist; the hygienist gave me $5 for Haley, and the dentist wrote a check,” McEntee said. “Anybody I talked with wanted to help.”

A guy named Henry Eldridge from Tega Cay came in to Clabough’s shop to get some work done on his golf cart and dropped in a big bunch of money without ever meeting Haley Christmas.

“No way is somebody going to take away Haley’s wheels,” Eldridge said. “Thieves don’t win. Haley wins.”

By 1 p.m., the jar had fivers and ten-spots and C-notes. A C-note is a $100 bill. Clear plastic jars with c-notes look great.

Finally, better than a thousand dollars to help get another cart to replace the one that had cost about $5,000 three years ago when it was bought. Clabough thought he was on his way.

But Clabough didn’t have to pay for a new cart. Paul and Jeryl Christmas, Haley’s parents, didn’t have to pay, either.

A lady named Nicki Nash whose kids go to that St. Anne school made one phone call to her boss, Founders Federal Credit Union president Bruce Brumfield. Brumfield needed about two seconds to say: “Do what you gotta do; get that girl a golf cart!”

Paul and Haley Christmas came over to the shop to meet Clabough, who sure was getting no other work done Thursday as he fielded phone calls and dropped money in the jar and cried like a baby.

Nash stopped in and told Clabough the cart builder these simple words from behind a huge grin almost as big as Haley’s grin: “Do what you gotta do. Make it happen.”

All agreed that Founders would pay for the base cart, and the donations would pay for the extras to make Haley Christmas‘ cufflinks golf cart the best cart any girl who likes to sit at the side of the road waving and smiling at strangers ever rode in. And this one will have a security system to make sure it isn’t stolen.

These strangers turned friends decided if the stolen cart turns up, it will be donated in Haley’s name to a charity that needs a cart to get another disabled person around. If there is extra money after the cart is finished, it will go into a foundation or scholarship in Haley’s name to help someone else with cerebral palsy.

“My daughter’s been smiling all her life. She’s 27 years old, but this might be the best day she ever had,” said Paul Christmas, Haley’s father.

Haley gave out as many hugs at that golf cart shop as there were people to accept them. Clabough got his hug and that golf cart mechanic just about floated.

Clabough needs a couple weeks to put together this custom cart. It will have special tires and taillights. A radio/CD player, and roof, and special backseats for Haley’s friends and family. A cover to keep out the rain. A gas engine for plenty of get-up-and-go. There will be hubcaps to shine and mirrors to see where she’s been.

But no headlights. Haley’s glowing smile will light the way to wherever she may go.

Tags: bracelets, cufflinks, rings

The city of Lynchburg issued the following press release, announcement, or text tiffany and co of a speech:

The Lynchburg Fire & EMS Foundation, Inc. will host the 49th Annual Lynchburg Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 5 from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. along Main and Church Streets in Historic Downtown Lynchburg. The theme of this year’s parade is “A Star Spangled Christmas.”

Grand Marshal for this year’s parade will be Alma Henson, Lynch’s Landing’s first “Lynchburg Star tiffany key rings” contest winner. Lynchburg Star finalists will join Alma on a parade float to sing in unison to all those gathered on the streets of downtown Lynchburg.

Participant registration packets are available by calling 455-6342. Nearly 100 entries are expected to participate in this year’s event.

The Lynchburg Fire & EMS Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was organized to support the Lynchburg Fire & EMS Department by providing resources not otherwise provided for by the City of Lynchburg and operates independently from the City’s Fire Department.For more information please tiffany necklaces contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.

Tags: tiffany and co, tiffany key rings, tiffany necklaces

The cast of the Jersey Boys will kick off Christmas celebrations in tiffany and co central Melbourne on Saturday as tens of thousands of people line the streets to watch the annual Myer Christmas parade.

About 50,000 people are expected to turn out to watch the parade, Myer spokesman Mitch Catlin said.

The Jersey Boys cast members, whose stage show is a homage to Frankie Valli and The tiffany necklaces Four Seasons, will perform at 10.30am (AEDT) before the parade moves down Bourke Street in the heart of the city from 11am, led by Olympic rower James Tomkins.

Celebrities and sporting identities, including AFL premiership players from Geelong and NRL premiership players from Melbourne Storm will take part in the colourful procession of floats.

Thomas the Tank Engine and the Wiggles will also feature in the record number of floats while silver bangles live music and roving performers entertain the crowds.

Mr Catlin said crowds could expect lots of fun and colour.

“It’s always a great day for families,” he said.

The parade will culminate in front of the Myer department store where Santa will silver rings make an appearance with model Jennifer Hawkins.

Tags: silver bangles, silver rings

Tickets will be available beginning at 8:30 a.m. tiffany jewelry Monday.

The pageant will run Dec. 7-13 with performances at 6:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.

For more information contact Northside Baptist Church at 361-578-1568.

Chur

Northside Baptist Church’s annual Christmas tiffany bracelets pageant, known for its elaborate scenery and live animals, is turning 25.

“Silver Bells” is the theme for this year’s pageant, which tells the story of Jesus and will include modern-day holiday song and dance scenes.

“It’s what Christmas is all about,” said Sylvia Manning, who does publicity for the event. “It’s the birth, death and resurrection of Christ and friendship and fellowship and love.”

Manning said the event is suitable for all ages and anticipates available tiffany cufflinks tickets to quickly run out. Although the project involves nearly 500 church members and is expensive to produce, tickets are free.

“It’s presented as a Christmas gift to Victoria,” Manning said.

More than 9,000 people attended the pageant last year, and similar crowds are expected for the 11 presentations scheduled for this season.

Tickets will be available beginning at 8:30 a.m. Monday. The pageant will run Dec. 7-13 with tiffany money clips performances at 6:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. For more information contact Northside Baptist Church at 361-578-1568.

Tags: tiffany bracelets, tiffany cufflinks, tiffany money clips

Smiling, Haley Christmas rides again.

She will ride soon, anyway. Because York County will not stand for somebody tiffany jewelry stealing a golf cart from a lady with cerebral palsy.

The story of the theft of “Bye-bye,” Haley’s golf cart, ran in Thursday’s Herald. It was snatched last week from her family’s yard in Lesslie. The cart remains missing.

But by Thursday afternoon, Haley Christmas was at Andy’s Used Golf Cars in Rock Hill, deciding whether she wanted pink or blue.

Showing Haley and her father the options was a guy with working man’s gear oil on his hands and tears running down his face named Andy Clabough. A man who heard about the theft and heard from his customers who wanted to donate and strangers who wanted to donate, and without anybody asking, he offered to money clips build a new cart for free.

“Blue!” squealed Haley.

“Blue it is!” called out Clabough.

Before Thursday, Andy Clabough had never heard of Haley Christmas. Yet, before 8 a.m., calls were coming in to Clabough with offers to help.

A guy named Wayne Logan who took his electric cart there for service offered up his pendants cart, no strings attached. Since Haley needed gas, Logan just said, “Put a sign on mine and sell it and use the money for Haley.”

Clabough decided right then and there that this girl was going to get a cart, if he had to pay for it himself.

“I never had a morning like this in my whole life,” Clabough said. “This is about the most amazing thing I ever saw. I come to work today, and I found out that people care so much more about a little lady who had her golf cart stolen than anything else.

“Hit me right in the gut, it did. Been crying all day.”

Clabough took an old plastic jar that once held pretzels and made it into a collection box. People called and offered to bring in cash. One guy offered $400.

A lady named Frances McEntee, who before Thursday never heard of Clabough or the Christmas family, started e-mailing and calling friends and fellow parents at St. Anne Catholic School to raise money because she could not sit idly by after reading of this dastardly deed. The school forwarded the e-mail to hundreds.

“I went to the dentist; the hygienist gave me $5 for Haley, and the dentist wrote a check,” McEntee said. “Anybody I talked with wanted to help.”

A guy named Henry Eldridge from Tega Cay came in to Clabough’s shop to get some work earrings done on his golf cart and dropped in a big bunch of money without ever meeting Haley Christmas.

“No way is somebody going to take away Haley’s wheels,” Eldridge said. “Thieves don’t win. Haley wins.”

By 1 p.m., the jar had fivers and ten-spots and C-notes. A C-note is a $100 bill. Clear plastic jars with c-notes look great.

Finally, better than a thousand dollars to help get another cart to replace the one that had cost about $5,000 three years ago when it was bought. Clabough thought he was on his way.

But Clabough didn’t have to pay for a new cart. Paul and Jeryl Christmas, Haley’s parents, didn’t have to pay, either.

A lady named Nicki Nash whose kids go to that St. Anne school made one phone call to her boss, Founders Federal Credit Union president Bruce Brumfield. Brumfield needed about two seconds to say: “Do what you gotta do; get that girl a golf cart!”

Paul and Haley Christmas came over to the shop to meet Clabough, who sure was getting no other work done Thursday as he fielded phone calls and dropped money in the jar and cried like a baby.

Nash stopped in and told Clabough the cart builder these simple words from behind a huge grin almost key rings as big as Haley’s grin: “Do what you gotta do. Make it happen.”

All agreed that Founders would pay for the base cart, and the donations would pay for the extras to make Haley Christmas‘ golf cart the best cart any girl who likes to sit at the side of the road waving and smiling at strangers ever rode in. And this one will have a security system to make sure it isn’t stolen.

These strangers turned friends decided if the stolen cart turns up, it will be donated in Haley’s name to a charity that needs a cart to get another disabled person around. If there is extra money after the cart is finished, it will go into a foundation or scholarship in Haley’s name to help someone else with cerebral palsy.

“My daughter’s been smiling all her life. She’s 27 years old, but this might be the best day she ever had,” said Paul Christmas, Haley’s father.

Haley gave out as many hugs at that golf cart shop as there were people to accept them. Clabough got his hug and that golf cart mechanic just about floated.

Clabough needs a couple weeks to put together this custom cart. It will have special tires and taillights. A radio/CD necklaces player, and roof, and special backseats for Haley’s friends and family. A cover to keep out the rain. A gas engine for plenty of get-up-and-go. There will be hubcaps to shine and mirrors to see where she’s been.

But no headlights. Haley’s glowing smile will light the way to wherever she may go.

Tags: necklaces

A large part of the Christmas season involves songs, gathering with friends and loved ones and food. A local church, El Buen Pastor, has managed to combine all three for the past decade.

In the late 1990s Debbie Arrieta decided to gather the church’s older youth and organize Christmas caroling activities. The idea began to gain popularity.

“From there it kind of grew into even the primary-age students wanted to come and sing with us. And then even adults that wanted us to go to there homes wanted to tag along.”

The caroling takes place a few days before Christmas. About 15 church members hop in their cars and go to friends’, relatives’ and other members’ homes to sing. By the end of the evening its not unusual for the caroling group that was less than 20 people to have grown to more than 40 as people being sung to decide to go sing to others.

Andrew Arrieta started caroling with the group when he was 11 years old. He said he’s never tired of the annual activity.

“It’s being together that’s a lot of fun. The cars are all packed with people, you’re blasting Christmas music and you’re trying to be the first one to get to the door,” Andrew Arrieta said.

Some of the older carolers enjoy watching the children participate as much as they do singing themselves.

“I really love to see the kids, especially our little kids. Watching them as they’re growing every year, they look forward to it and they have so much fun,” church member Irma Dominguez said. “I think it’s mutual, because we have fun being together first and laughing and joking and singing.”

The children jockey for position to determine who rings the doorbell at each house. But the caroling does not start until everyone has arrived, which can be tricky with a caravan of people trying to follow homemade maps guiding them around the city.

The song list remains the same from year-to-year. There’s about 15 tunes that include many of the classics — “Silent Night,” “Feliz Navidad,” “Jingle Bells,” and others. Alicia Mondragon said her favorite is “Joy to the World” because it captures the true meaning of Christmas, the arrival of Christ.

Each home — there’s about 15 visited each year — is treated to one song. Usually, which song is performed is decided only minutes before the doorbell is rung.

The carolers will go to homes of non-church members upon request. Sometimes the new people they’re singing to don’t know if they should give them gifts or money. Church members say they don’t want anything. They sing for the joy of it.

“It’s a great experience that we do. It’s not a chore, it’s a fun thing that we do,” Dominguez said.

After caroling the group gathers at church member Yolonda Mondragon’s home where there’s plenty of food waiting. The carolers are especailly fond of her quesadillas, and the hot chocolate is always nice after singing for a couple hours in 30-degree weather.

The evening for the group can be summed up in the advice Debbie Arrieta gives everyone before they leave to go caroling.

“Make sure you bring Christmas move it, play it really loud, enjoy yourself, be careful, have a good time and keep Christ in mind,” she says.

Tags: Christmas