The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Michael Bane on December 24, 2008, 12:11:22 PM
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Thank you all for your support over the year, and we wish you all the best for the entire holiday season.
On this night of nights, may you all be safe with your families.
And if wherever in the world you are standing watch in our behalf, I wish you the gift of peace. You are always in our prayers...
Michael Bane
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Right back at you.
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DITTO ;D
Merry Christmas to you and your family Michael.
Of course Merry Christmas to all of you here at DRTV, Happy Hanukkah as well. Peace be with you all, especially those in harms way. Sleep well and dream good dreams. Have a great day, tomorrow and go shoot if you can.
Man I wished I had planned for the SHOT show better.
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Merry Christmas to Everyone here at DRTV and May you all have a Happy & Healthy New Year
Michael, Thank You , Marshal & M'Ette for all you have done for us here on DRTV, I look forward to all that will be coming our way in the new year.
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Merry Christmas Michael from Down Under
and to everyone else here,
Stay Safe and warm :P
I am going back to my Nice Cold Beer
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Merry Christmas to you MIchael, thank you for your patience and thoughtful opinions and advice that often make one think.
Looking forward to 09, take care.
Tom W.
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;D Merry Christmas to each and everyone! May God's love and blessings enrich you all. ;D
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Christmas. The first six letters say it all.
May you all find peace in God's sacrifice, love and gifting.
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Merry Christmas!!!
First to the folks who have worked to bring DRTV and this site to all of us.
Second to all the folks here who have surprised and impressed me with the scope of of knowledge they posses. I expected to learn much about firearms here but was not expecting the expertise folks have in history, engineering, business and many other areas.
Thank you all for your willingness to share that knowledge (and I know that thanks is not necessary...that sharing is what makes this group so special). Of course it might just be that we are all a bunch of hams who can't keep our mouths shut, but I appreciate it all the same.
Take care.
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Merry Christmas and Yulish Cheer to y'all as well. I'm preparing for the imminent arrival of grandkids and the ensuing Christmas Day brunch.
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Merry Christmas to all !
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Merry CHRISTMAS to all and I wish you well. GOD bless and stay safe. Thank you all for a great forum.
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Jingly bells, Jingly bells, Santa's on his way ;D
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I'm just getting to my computer (after the day is over on the east coast) I hope y'all had a great Christmas and Santa brought you everything on your wish lists!
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Merry (very white) Christmas Michael B.
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HO HO HO and a happy 09 to all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Merry Christmas!!!
First to the folks who have worked to bring DRTV and this site to all of us.
Second to all the folks here who have surprised and impressed me with the scope of of knowledge they posses. I expected to learn much about firearms here but was not expecting the expertise folks have in history, engineering, business and many other areas.
Thank you all for your willingness to share that knowledge (and I know that thanks is not necessary...that sharing is what makes this group so special). Of course it might just be that we are all a bunch of hams who can't keep our mouths shut, but I appreciate it all the same.
Take care.
Well put, Solus.
I know it's the day after, and I hope you all had a good Christmas and hope for a better 2009 so I thought I would share this story that my aunt sent me.
The Truth About Santa Claus
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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 her Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.