Tag Archives: charity

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A Christmas Miracle

Christmas. It’s a time to appreciate what you have and reflect on the important things in life. It’s a time for giving and a time to enjoy the most important people in your life. That is unless your have kids. Then it’s about winning. It’s literally about winning Christmas (obviously winning is about being the best present giving “parent” since Santa is the best overall).

Setting aside all the magical gifts that Santa delivers down the chimney and under your barely standing, brown five week old Christmas tree, parents often both agree on an amount to spend on their children, or at least decide together what gifts will be bought for the kids. The thing is… if your anything like us it’s not just about the season of giving. It’s about the season of “who got the best gifts.” You want to try to take it easy… you know, just get little Susie an Easy Bake Oven, but it’s easy to want to go overboard and become the favorite parent. It’s amazing how fast that Easy Bake Oven turns into a live unicorn.

Although, the other side of this… Just understand you may wind up sleeping on the couch once your partner catches wind of your plan. Steph and I haven’t gotten to that point yet, as long as the kids are happy on Christmas morning… that magic of the holiday twinkling in their eyes… that’s the real gift.

Buying for the little one is easy. Oliver would go nuts over a toilet paper roll, or a box of tissue paper. Put a few random legos in a coffee can and you have created the greatest gift of all time. You can’t measure happiness in money or gift amounts, but you can however measure happiness in laughs and smiles. We all want to make Christmas morning as magical as possible, so it’s best to take advantage of how easy it is to please the little ones now.

We try to take it easy. We (Santa) buys lots of books and puzzles. This year we are going to have Jackson pick a few old toys to donate to someone in need, as he replaces those he donates with new ones Santa brings him. We aren’t naive to think that Christmas isn’t about presents, but I think this mom and dad also relish in the little things as well… a healthy and happy family. Two little boys who love each other and most importantly the fact that we got them to sit long enough with each other to get a decent Christmas card! It’s a Christmas miracle.

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#DoTheDadDance

So everyone one who knows me (or has read this blog) knows I have no trouble making a fool of myself. I’m pretty good at it (except on the dance floor… that, that I take as serious as a heart attack).  So when the #DoTheDadDance movement started I figured I better start working on something other wise I’d wind up looking like that New Year’s Eve video where I went all Ham on Maniac from Flash Dance**.

For those of you who haven’t heard of the Do the Dad Dance campaign before, Al from The Dad Network  started this movement to help raise money for Unicef (great cause and I’ve donated). I haven’t nominated anyone per say, but if you’ve read this consider it your nomination.

The rules are simple,

1. Dads, film yourself dancing to your favorite song, with or without the children.

2. Upload it to social media using the hashtag #DOTHEDADDANCE and then tag / nominate some of your dad friends to do the same.

3. Donate to UNICEF by visiting http://www.justgiving.com/dothedaddance

Unfortunately… Practice doesn’t make perfect in this dad’s case, and since its for charity to support children in need I figured I’d let my little man take the lead and if just follow him into the Dancing Hall of Fame.  All he needed was a little Huey Lewis and the News and the moves started flowing.  Worked out pretty well if you ask me…

“The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is a United Nations Program headquartered in New York City that provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. It is one of the members of the United Nations Development Group and its Executive Committee.”

**FYI: Imagine me in a white v-neck and short running shorts and this video would be an exact replica of my New Year’s Video. 

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Please Help a Childhood Friend

Hi all, as a dad I want to be able to protect my son from evil. I can’t imagine what I would do if he ever was going through pain and suffering. Below is a charity event for a childhood friend. PLEASE HELP! Every little bit counts!

We are starting this fundraiser to help Peter Lividini with his medical and living expenses while he waits for a heart transplant. Because of his current state of health, Peter is no longer able to work, and will lose the benefit of his salary in this interim. Pete’s focus needs to be on rest, and rebuilding his health to prepare for surgery. For any of us, a heart transplant would be an unbelievable ordeal. For Peter however, the extreme heart failure that has brought him to this point is caused by an underlying condition called Desminopathy. It is a type of Muscular Dystrophy that weakens the muscles of the body, as well as the heart. You can find more info at https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/pwh7/peter-s-heart-transplant-fundraiser?utm_source=facebook

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Charity Work

Charity work is something that I wish I had more time for… shoot, spending more time with my son and wife is something I wish I had more time for.  Being an educator is something that I spend the majority of time doing… yes I get paid for it, but its something that I can do to leave the world a better place.  I feel good about myself and the work that I do when I go home at home at night, there’s always the wish that you could do more, but like the quote says: “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different, because I was important in the life of a child.”

Every now and again the family and I like to give back beyond what we normally do.  It never feels like a lot, and it definitely never feels like enough.  Yet, somehow giving back is never easy.  Someone is always too busy, or too tired or just not interested.  I want Jax to be a caring person.  I’d like to raise him to do his best for himself and for others and I know the best way to teach is to model.  So Saturday morning Jax and I took a ride down to Danbury Ambulance’s Annual “Stuff an Ambulance” event (which collects non-perishable foods and donations for The Dorothy Day House, The Women’s Shelter and The Food Pantry in Danbury.)

Now listen, I know the kid has no idea what was going on… I know all he was looking for was something to chew on… but it’s the point that we do these things together.  It’s being a family, who although not as much as we’d like, helps others.  Either way, it was nice to be able to help people in need.

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If you want to support Danbury Ambulance’s charity work you can contact me through the site or leave a comment on this page and I’ll get back to you ASAP.