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Wrap these up for fantastic gifts
(by Barbara Christian - December 23, 2009)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Wrap these up for fantastic gifts
Have you been naughty or nice this year? Assuming it's the latter -- and when you snuggle down for your long winter's nap tonight -- what is it you would like Santa Claus to set down under your tree?
Note to Santa: World harmony, an end to hunger and a cure for cancer top the list. But those are huge even for you. So here are a few ideas just in case you have some last-minute shopping of your own.
Maybe you are at a loss for what to give an entire town called Chagrin Falls. We know taxpayers would be thrilled to look under the tree and find -- stacked up like that eye-rolling Geico stash of cash -- the half million bucks that went a glimmering when the village-owned West Orange Street properties were sold for a song. That song is "Brother Can You Spare a Dime."
'Twas the recession and deflated property values killed the beast of prosperity and gave new meaning to the phrase, "Timing is everything."
If not the return of all that dough, Santa, we will settle for an end to this bad economy and unemployment. That would solve a lot of problems. We don't know how you can wrap that up in the short time left before Sleigh Force One takes off from the North Pole.
And Santa, we want to put in a good word for the good work of everyone who makes Petfix, the low-cost mobile spay and neuter clinic. We know you agree with the Petfix motto about how every pet should be loved and wanted. This group of dedicated Petfix-ers is already successful in what it dies, so we aren't asking for much, just the wherewithal that funding provides.
This will make our region a litter-free zone where dogs and cats are forever disinclined toward doing what comes naturally. Santa, please send Petfix a continued stream of benevolent givers.
To those of you with long memories and full hearts, we hope Santa will give the gift of visiting with a loved one who has passed, if only in your reverie. We have received the gift of such dreams, and they are powerful.
We would not want to demean the beloved friends and family mentioned above, but, Santa, it would be a great gift indeed if you gift us with a way of visiting with those other beloved family members -- the pets we loved and lost and who gave us so much when they were alive.
Not sure how the logistics of that reunion would work. Here's hoping all our cats, dogs, parakeets, assorted fish, turtles, lizards and hermit crabs get along.
Would we be asking for too much, Santa, for one more thing? We always fantasized about finding a big shiny box on Christmas morning, and when we opened it, we would find all of the things we ever lost.
Imagine all those gloves and sunglasses in one place at one time, the tools loaned to friends that were never returned. Think of all the missing baseball gloves, books, records, videos and CDs. Imagine diving into that box and coming up with all of the single socks lost to the Bermuda Triangle in the clothes dryer. An amazing gift, as long as we saved the mates.
One last thing. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, peace on earth and, for all of us, another year of trying to get it right.
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