Kids make it Christmas

“Look Mommy, another Jesus celebration!” my 3-year-old shouted as we drove past a decorated storefront. He continued to notice various Jesus celebrations on our drive—the red ribbons on the light posts, the tacky inflatable snow globe, and the yard overwhelmed by reindeer and penguins.

I decorated our house this year during the night. My children ooh-ed at the stockings, were giddy about the little windows on the Advent calendar, and were captivated by the two nativity scenes that I purposely put within their reach.

One nativity scene is made of white plastic, the other of Haitian clay complete with coconut shell stable. My oldest makes sure that baby Jesus gets plenty of kisses from the wise men and shepherds. Meanwhile my youngest dive-bombs the whole scene with a plastic angel. He seems to have it out for the various sheep and cows gathering around the Christ child.

We’ve made sugar cookies and attempted to put together a gingerbread house. We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus countless times each day, and when Daddy comes home we sing Jingle Bells around the piano.

Each evening we take advantage of whatever Christmas special is on TV, all of us snuggled in our pj’s. It is all part of our Jesus celebration.

Each morning my youngest son runs downstairs, ready to open the next door on our advent calendar. Yesterday it revealed a picture of a race car. He smiled. I asked, “Christmas is fun isn’t it?” He nodded with a sweet, closed-mouth smile.

Prior to kids, nothing ever seemed to really get me into the spirit of Christmas. No amount of shopping, singing, or scripture reading seemed to do the trick.

Seeing joy and wonder on my boys’ faces, hearing them soothe baby Jesus with a kiss, and watching them squeal at tacky yard art has gotten me fully into the spirit of Advent.

Rebekah D. Schneiter, Halsey

Threats in grade school?

I have been informed by various sources of a real problem in the Lebanon School District.

It has nothing to do with money or how much people think that they ought to get paid, but something a little more serious.

It involves students threatening other students with words like I — or we— will kill you.

I know at least two instances this has happened to kids I know.

One student didn’t want to go back to school, because she was too afraid; the other one moved but didn’t want the student who did the threatening to know where he lived.

This not in the high school or middle school but in the grade schools.

I was told of an incident last year involving a kid bringing a chain to school to harm another kid.

In the cases I have heard about the first response was from the school: Boys will be boys. That attitude worked great at Columbine, Thurston and other places. So let’s find what’s going on and fix it.

Also, who are the role models for these kids? Some video game or what? It certainly isn’t Sesame Street.

And what are the parents like?

I know one family that will walk in front of your car to see if you stop in time, and the parents get mad if you talk about it to them.

They just say it’s none of your business what their kids do. It’s too bad but in this instance, the parents are just as bad.

I’ve seen with my own eyes.

So let’s see if we can take care of this problem before something goes tragically wrong.

Glen Ashworth, Lebanon

The crisis in Gaza

I remember as a young girl asking my mom how could people have let the Holocaust happen. “We didn’t know it was happening” was her reply. Something about that answer made me uncomfortable, preferring to be informed and ready to speak out.

Recently I’ve been wondering if my children would some day ask me the same about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “Why did no one come to the aid of 1.5 million people imprisoned, hungry and many of them sick?” they might ask. “Where was the public outrage?”

One and a half million Gazans are imprisoned in a concentration camp, literally being starved to death, while the world stands by watching. And 60 percent of them are children.

What is being done to the Gazan people is a war crime and a crime against humanity as defined by international law.

Of course there are other large-scale human disasters happening at the same time as the crisis in Gaza. But no other government is given $7 million to $10 million a day like Israel’s is. Without U.S. funding, Israel could not afford its brutal occupation, the illegal settlements and the collective punishment and imprisonment of the people of Gaza.

So whose responsibility is it to speak up first and loudest? Isn’t it us, who are allowing it to happen, day by day, with our tax dollars?

Valori George, Corvallis

Grandfather’s Christmas

My grandfather Albert Carlson had an electric store in Lebanon for many years. As I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, Christmas and family, wow! It was like a carnival.

He built miniature ferris wheels, carousels (think erector sets) and a popeye boat that was hooked to the Golden Gate bridge on the canal that flows through Lebanon — everything you’d find at a carnival.

He lived at the east end of Vine Street (dead end, circle drive). I believe it is 600 E. Vine. In the evenings all through the holidays, people would stream through with their families, on foot and in cars.

I feel certain there must be a lot of folks out there in the community still who remember this wonderful Christmas in our little corner of the world. I would so love to talk to people and especially have some stories and pictures of your experiences of my grandpa’s Christmas activities.

Thank you so much and good health and happiness to all this 2008 season. My phone number is 258-5968. Leave a message.

Susan K. Wilson, Crabtree

Our fee-raising governor

As a lifelong Democrat I am very disappointed in Governor Kulongoski’s proposed tax and fee increases. He wants to raise the cost of just about everything possible. I am going to think twice before voting for another Democrat.

Clay Atchison, Jefferson