GaryOsberg.com

Good morning from Collegeville,

Seven days until Christmas Eve.  I am almost done with my shopping and I plan to wrap gifts this weekend.  There is no doubt that we will have a  white Christmas this year.    On Monday night the Monticello gang and I attended the George Maurer Jazz Group concert at The Paramount Theater.  George always delivers a fresh package.  You can purchase his CD’s at the St. John’s Bookstore in Sexton Commons.   They make good stocking stuffers.  If you have never taken in one of their concerts, you may want to plan on next year.  

Children love Christmas, as well they should.  As with most families, some years Christmas gifts were easy to come by and some years they were hard to come by.  The Christmas of 1956 was a memorable one for me.  My mother had to take an apartment in Little Falls, having left Dad after years of his not being very responsible.  That Christmas, Santa brought us six big Tonka Toy 18 wheel trucks.  There was a cattle truck, an oil tanker, a freight truck and three more.  This was a perfect gift for a family with five boys. For years I had the impression that they were from a social agency that served the poor.  It turned out that the gift giver was Dewey Johnson, a classmate of my mother, who was acquainted with one of the founders of Tonka Toys.   Dewey had already passed on before I learned this from my mother, so I did not get a chance to thank him. 

Perhaps you know of a family that has come upon hard times and they could use a Secret Santa.

 The show this week is live from The Town Hall in New York City.  Special guests include mini-orchestra Pink Martini and world renowned Operatic Baritone Nathan Gunn along with the Royal Academy of Radio Actors.  Enjoy the show. 

 “Three-fourths of the people you will meet tomorrow are hungering and thirsting for sympathy.  Give it to them, and they will love you.”  Dale Carnegie