BETWEEN THE BRIDGES IN BROAD CHANNEL
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MERRY CHRISTMAS!
May I take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! Yep, I said it….”Merry Christmas!” Not Happy Holiday or Happy Winter Solstice. Not Happy Festivus or Merry Yuletide Season. Not Happy Winter Break or some other politically correct and utterly inane nonsense. My wish for a Merry Christmas is sincere and goes out to everyone without exception, including all those politically correct, safe space seeking, and overly sensitive, special snowflakes out there who get out of bed each day secure in the fantasy that the world and life in general revolves around them.
Christmas is a time that provides all of us an opportunity to reflect upon all that we and our families have to be thankful for. We should all keep in mind Thanksgiving and Christmas 2012 when we celebrated, as best we could, amidst our Sandy ravaged homes with turkey dinners at the American Legion, Santa Claus and toys for children and at the VFW. Our first post-Sandy Christmas was perhaps more memorable than any other holidays past, as each of us had the opportunity to realize just how much we had to be thankful for and encouraged with the knowledge that we were all pulling together to restore our community! I think most of us were keeping “farm hours” back then, up and about at sunrise working, cleaning up and liberally bleaching anything that didn’t move in the house and then crawling back into bed at sunset.
Four Christmases have now passed since that wicked witch Sandy visited our fair town. As terrible as the days following Sandy’s visit were, there was something good that came of it as well. Together we shared laughter, tears, frustration, elation, sorrow, hope, food, drink, showers, towels, soap, deodorant, clothes, tools, cell phones, gasoline and much more. But most importantly, we all endured the Nightmare before Christmas of 2012 and came away from that experience with a new sense of hope and community spirit.that only a small, close knit community such as Broad Channel could engender.
Although many of us are still struggling with the storm's aftermath, today when the sun sets over Jamaica Bay, Broad Channel transforms itself and takes on an almost fairy tale ambiance with bright festive lights hung across Cross Bay Boulevard accented by the myriad Christmas lights and decorations which adorn the homes of our town, many of which were uninhabitable not so long ago. People who are out and about greet each other with warm smiles that seem to be reserved solely for this time of year. The local VFW and American Legion halls are busy with holiday charity events and parties and our Broad Channel Vollies are out and about making sure that Santa Claus visits the children of our town who are, after all, our most precious commodity.
Christmas is truly a special time and should be shared by all of us. If you have a neighbor who is alone, elderly or infirm on this Christmas, you might want to give some thought to playing Santa yourself and drop in to see how they are doing and check to see if they need anything.
Remember, a little smile, a word of cheer, a bit of concern from someone near, a little gift from one held dear, best wishes for the coming year all serve to make a Merry Christmas!
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