“winter, through your hoary frost, I travel on, longing to be lost.”
angie weiland-crosby
Santa speaking to crowd in front of J.L. Hudson department store
during the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade-1942
only 30 more sleeps!
—
“to celebrate a festival means;
to live out, for some special occasion and in an uncommon manner
the universal assent to the world as a whole.”
-josef pieper
The holidays are here and the barrage of advertisements has begun, but one brand is standing above the rest for their powerful message this season.
U.K. retailer John Lewis & Partners, known for their imaginative Christmas advertisements, is instead putting a spotlight on an important cause for 2022.
In this year’s highly anticipated ad, the brand has launched “The Beginner” which shares the story of a family preparing to welcome a child in foster care — but the viewer doesn’t know that at first.
A cover of Blink 182’s “All The Small Things” by Mike Geier begins to play as the man’s efforts progress through more falls and skateboard-related injuries through the Christmas season.
At the end of the video, the family is seen opening the door to a social worker and a girl, who is holding her skateboard. “I skate a bit too,” the man says pointing to his own battered board.
The ad ends with a frame sharing that there are more than 108,000 children and young people in the U.K.’s care system.
In the United States, according to a 2021 report by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 391,000 children are in foster care.
In just 24 hours since being shared, the ad has amassed more than 2.2 million views.
“As someone who’s been in the care system myself as a child, this really feels close to home … It does make you think about how powerful adverts can be, even if they are simple and basic,” one user wrote.
“there will come a time when you believe everything is finished. yet that will be the beginning.”
-louis l’amour
—
credits: today show, kait hanson, john lewis and partners
“the table is a meeting place, a gathering ground,
the source of sustenance and nourishment, festivity, safety, and satisfaction.
a person cooking is a person giving; the simplest food is a gift.”
-laurie colwyn
—
may you gather today with those you love to share your gifts.
excited to see a new film
(one of my favorite things to do)
i arrived precisely
at the designated time and place
(with time to meet up, buy tickets, grab a ‘movie-buttered’ popcorn, chatter a bit, and find our seats)
only to discover
that i had organized it so that
we were precisely
24 hours late for the show.
—
p.s. i really do make every effort to be on time for things
but this has also happened
with a holiday party i was really excited to attend
a few years back
is this a pattern? see below –
“nothing, of course, begins at the time you think it did.”
lillian hellman
as we prepare to gather together in a few days
often with all kinds of people
often anticipating how it will go
often happily surprised.
—
“it’s never the differences between people that surprise us.
it’s the things, that against all odds, we have in common.”
-jodi picoult
—
photo credit: muppets.disney.com
during this time of year, when we are so lucky for our bounty, why not help to feed someone else
and maybe learn something along the way?
freericetrivia by the U.N.’s World Food Programme
Want to test your knowledge while helping end world hunger? freerice can make it happen. For every question you answer correctly in the trivia quiz, 10 grains of rice are donated to those in need. Since 2010, freerice has raised more than 214 billion grains of rice (equivalent to $1.5 million) for people around the world.
—
“poverty’s child – he starts to grind the rice, and gazes at the moon.”
-matuso basho
foghorn leghorn of television fame
and yet another wonderful nextdoor post on my neighborhood site:
Did you have a chicken missing? We have a Leghorn chicken who appeared in our back yard this morning. She is now in our coop with our three, However, we really don’t need or want another chicken so if she is yours, please message me to arrange a time to come and collect her. We have marked her feet with a purple antiseptic so we can identify which one is yours.
Posted in Lost & Found to The River District
—
“i dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives.”
-ralph waldo emerson
image credit: warner brothers animation
first snow of the year – outdoor adventure day
—
first time with sustained snow play for many
running, jumping, sticks, snow angels, footprints, chasing,
snow picnic, snow story, snowballs, duck,duck,polar bear game,
lost mittens, noses running, rosy cheeks
eating lots and lots and lots of snow
one said it was the best snack in the world
and it just might be.
—
“there is no land like the land of your childhood.”
-michael powell
yesterday i went to sleep being lots of years old
today i woke up being lots of years plus one more year old
i’ll begin by sharing the day with my kinder
who love to celebrate most everything.
—
“do not grow old, not matter how long you live.
never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”
-albert einstein
—
image/cartoon credit: gary larson, the far side
I didn't have my glasses on.... 