Someting happened the day before Thanksgiving and I wasn't really sure how to comment on it. On the surface it really didn't appear to be that big of a thing. After a week I have come to believe it is a bigger thing than I could have imagined.

The service at St. Rita the day before Thanksgiving has a special and significant result. Beverly Perham receives thousands of gifts for children in the Pahokee and South Bay areas.

For the month preceding Thanksgiving, parish members take little slips of paper home with them. Each slip has a small request ... to buy socks and underwear for a cetain aged child. The slip just contains a size. No name. No address. No picture. Just a size and sex.

In that thirty days culminating the day before Thanksgiving, Beverly picks up gifts. All told, more than 6,000. And at Christmas she distributes them to each of the children. Wow!

In Wellington we live a lifestyle that runs from middle class to the wealthy. Too often it may be easy to ignore what others do not have when we rush around to take care of our families.

But think of it ... these children are overjoyed (by all reports) when they receive this gifts. Think about it. Not a Wii, or iPod, or the latest Nike shoes.

Just socks and underwear.

To see all these gifts stacked up in the Sancturay brings a tear to the eye of even the most ingrained Scrooge among us. It did to me, but then again, I'm not a Scrooge.

Let's reflect on this season of giving and joy and remember those less fortunate than are we. Make a donation to your favorite cause. Volunteer your time at one of the homeless centers in the area. Take your children and teach them a lesson we so often forget.

Maybe Helen Keller said it best: “Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.”

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I know you've driven by St. Peter's and said to yourself, "I really need to get a pumpkin this year." All those great orange hued pumpkins just laying all over the place. You know, down deep, there is one in there with your name written all over it.

Then the cell phone rings. Or something else pops up. And you forget.

Take a moment and let me share with you why I think it is important to stop and buy that pumpkin. Today. I am.

Halloween marks the beginning of my favorite part of the year. Halloween until the first Monday in January. When you think about it, this time of year just shouts family.

Trick-or-treaters constantly ringing the doorbell. The family gathered around the Thanksgiving table. Working so hard wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve to see it all undone in about 60 seconds on Christmas Day (I really think the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds" should have been about this).

Then the celebrations begin on New Year's Eve and celebrating the beginning of the New Year with a traditional dinner. And finally, the kids go back to school! Oh yeah, my birthday is somewhere in there as well.

But I digress, back to the Pumpkin Patch.

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