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	12/27/09 - NNHS Newsletter - Skaters Waltz “Everything that I've ever been able to accomplish in skating and in life has come out of adversity and perseverance.” - Scott Hamilton (b. 13 Aug 1958)

Dear Friends and Schoolmates, 

   Here outside St. Louis the snow is softly falling, all beautiful and white - to the extent that our church services were cancelled this morning (which is just as well, as our porch and driveway did not seem to be compatible with my safely leaving home ).

  Today's Newsletter is a "re-visitation" of the Newsletter from exactly three years ago today :

http://nnhs65.00freehost.com/12-27-06-NNHS-Skaters-Waltz.html

BONUS #1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpOdsttjVO0 - The Skaters Waltz - Waldteufe - nine minute audio; not much happening on the screen

BONUS #2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV4BxDcWus8 - The Skaters Waltz - Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, Katia Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, Ilia Kulik, Evgeni Plushenko and Michelle Kwan

   YIKESARONI! Certainly, Paul! Tell Audrey we're on the job!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/requests-prayers.html

     From Me ('65) of IL - 12/13/09 (altered for date and repeated):

   I feel strongly impressed today to ask your fervent prayers on behalf of five people whose issues have not been mentioned here before. What I'm actually requesting is Five Christmas Miracles, as the various problems all need to find a resolution by New Year's Eve. I know that's only four days away now, but I also know among us there are some Mighty Prayer Warriors, and I would deeply appreciate your efforts, as I'm sure would they! Thank you all so very much - and Merry Christmas!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/requests-prayers.html

THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS:

    Happy Birthday today to   Anita Morgan Becker ('66) of VA!

    Happy Birthday this week to:

29 - Roy Tate ('57);

01 - Gloria Hand Burns ('57)!

   Many Happy Returns to You All!

      From My Husband, Paul Harty (Bardolph HS, IL - '61) of IL - 12/26/09 - "The Story of Rudolph":

THE TRUE STORY OF RUDOLPH

A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night.

His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bob's wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad's eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's mommy?" Bob's jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life. Life always had to be different for Bob.

Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he'd rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn's bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.

Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined a make one - a storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn't end there.

The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to print Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book. In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter. But the story doesn't end there either.

Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas."

The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn't so bad. In fact, being different can be a blessing.

TO YOU & YOURS

   Thanks, Paul! This is a great - and true - story!  

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/r/rudolph.htm - TRUTH!

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/rudolph.asp - TRUE

ABBREVIATED ALERT:

From ArcaMax Jokes - 12/26/09:

Collectibles

Fresh out of high school, I found a job cleaning the elegant home of an older couple. Among other duties, I had to dust their many imported carvings and petrified collectibles as well as pick up after their pets.

One day I was astonished to find two ivory fossils lying on the floor beside the bookcase. I quickly picked them up and put them back on the shelf. The next week the same thing happened.

That afternoon my employer came into the parlor, her faithful canine behind her. Looking around, she eyed the bookcase.

"Tippy," she asked the dog, "how do your bones keep getting up there?"

DATES TO REMEMBER:

   Y'all take good care of each other!  TYPHOONS FOREVER!  We'll Always Have Buckroe!