Christmas.
It’s my favorite time of year.
Always has been.
When I was a kid, it was obviously because of Santa and presents. As I got a little older, I realized that
people were just better to each other for the most part around the Holiday season.
They are more civil, more polite and seem to be more giving and thoughtful.
I’ve said a million times that if we carried the spirit of the Christmas/Holiday season throughout the year, the world would be a better place.
When my son was born, it was like being a kid again.
I got to shop for cool toys, but even better, we got to watch him open them and play with them.
Seeing the excitement in his eyes when he saw Santa at the mall kicked ass.
It was AWESOME.
It made me love Christmas even more.
Now that he is in his teens, it isn’t quite as awesome because he doesn’t believe in Santa anymore, and for the life of me I don’t know why.
Santa is real.
But, I still love it.
I’ve also been doing something that makes me happy every Christmas for over 20 years, and today, it brought me to tears.
I actually had tears in my eyes.
I’ve been running a Toys for Tots drive for over 20 years and our members here at TPS KILL IT every year.
They really go overboard.
One year we had to rent a 14 foot box truck to move everything we raised!
WHY DO I DO IT?
I grew up in the projects, on welfare, but I always had things to open on Christmas.
Some of my friends didn’t.
I've been fortunate enough to be able to make Christmas a special day for my son. Others are not as fortunate.
Imagine being an innocent child on Christmas and getting nothing?
Imagine being the child who thought they were a good little boy or girl all year and getting NOTHING from Santa?
What would be going on in their heads?
Even worse (for me to think about), imagine being a parent who doesn't have the ability to give their child a gift?
That has got to be awful.
With that in mind I decided that we needed to do our part to make our small part of the world a little better, if only for one day, so I contacted the Marines and became an official drop off center for Toys for Tots.
I’ve been working with Arthur Enos of the USMC for a long time now, and we have had a great run.
This year the boxes were a little light and I was getting worried this morning since there are only two days left in our drive.
Today, I was brought to tears on the gym floor as two members did something AMAZING.
First, one of my very long time clients gave me a good chunk of cash and said to add it to the donations.
I was floored.
About two seconds later another one came in and had a huge bag of toys. I thanked her and said that she went overboard.
She said that she needed help with the rest.
Huh?
The rest?
She bought enough toys to make two of the boxes OVERFLOW.
My eyes started to well up with tears on the spot and they are now as I write this.
I thanked her again and gave her a huge hug.
I don’t know how to thank all of our members who donated so much this year, but Mike and Linda upped the game and they will never know how much I appreciate what they did.
There are no words.
The Toys for Tots drive means a lot to me and I always want it to be a success.
This year, they, along with all of our members made it one of the best ones yet.
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED MAKE A CHILD’S DAY BRIGHTER!
Now some training stuff.
I write Opposite Deadlifts into our programs a lot and people always ask what they are, so we did a quick video for the new site, tpsmethod.com, on what they are.
I figured you all might like to see it too, and see why you should do them.
So, here it is.
AND:
If you are in the area, all are welcome tomorrow, December 14, 2018 to the TPS Christmas Party at the 8/10 Grill in Everett.
We will be accepting Toys for Tots donations there too.
I’ll be accepting whiskey in a glass.
Did you miss last week’s Log?
Find me on Google-search for Total Performance Sports Malden, Mass. The Best Gym in Boston, Facebook too.
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@TPSMalden
And
@tpsmethod
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Vincere vel mori
Thanks J.
Vinceri vel Mori