Yong Tae Kwon Do Centers

Korean Martial Arts

Every Year we Adopt a family for Christmas.  This year. 2006, we raised $1300 in gift cards in addition to the gifts for the family through the tireless efforts of our students and their families.  You are truly amazing and make me proud.  Thank you for showing your heart to give strangers the Christmas that they wouldn't have otherwise had. 

- Russ

Family Wish List

I got this in an email from Instructor Cindy and thought it was appropriate to copy here.  This is one example of the "why" we do what we do.  Enjoy.  - Russ

No Santa Clause?

I remember my first Christmas adventure with
Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across
town on my bike to visit her on the day my big
sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus,"
she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"
 
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had
been. I fled to her that day because I knew she
would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always
told the truth, and I knew that the truth always
went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one
of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they
were world-famous, because Grandma said so.
 
 It had to be true.
 
 Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm.
Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready
for me. "No Santa Claus?" She
snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor
has been going around for years, and it makes me
mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's
go."
 
"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even
finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store,
the one store in town that had a little bit of just
about everything. As we walked through its doors,
Grandma handed me ten dollars.

That was a bundle in those days. "Take this
money," she said, "and buy something for someone who
needs it. I'll wait for you in the car. "Then she
turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone
shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for
anything all by myself.

The store seemed big and crowded, full of people
scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a
few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching
that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who
on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I

knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids
at school, and the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly
thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad
breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in
Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.

Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that
because he never went out to recess during the
winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the
teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew
that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't
have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill
with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a
coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood
to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the
lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my
ten dollars down.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about
how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't
get any change, but she put the coat in a bag,
smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a
little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked
it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and
wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma
said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she
drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as
we went that I was now and forever officially, one
of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's
house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in
the bushes by his front walk.

Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa
Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep
breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present
down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to
the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness
for the front door to open. Finally it did, and
there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those
moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby
Decker's bushes.

That night, I realized that those awful rumors
about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they
were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we
were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the
coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH
to spare and FRIENDS that care....

And may you always believe in the magic of
Santa Claus!