Merry Christmas!

On December 4th our Project Linus Chapter ushered in the holiday season with our Appreciation Breakfast! It's our 3rd Annual breakfast and we had such a wonderful time. We don't often have time to just enjoy each other's company and share the year's Project Linus events with our dedicated volunteers. We were blessed with good weather - although it was cold - and spent 2 hours simply enjoying the friendships we've made through our work with Project Linus. Of course, immediately after, I headed out to take advantage of the pre-Christmas sales and managed to find the most perfect centerpieces for our 2009 breakfast! Mark your calendars for December 3, 2009 at 10:00am at the Hickory Point Golf Course Banquet facility in Forsyth! If you'd like to view pictures from this year's breakfast, please click on the link to the right "Central IL Chapter Pictures".

Now that 21 days have passed (three short weeks - I think we lost out due to the late Thanksgiving we had this year)...the Christmas season has reached its peak - Christmas Day! I'm a Christmas fanatic - and I just can't get enough of it. I start listening to Christmas music on October 1st and never get tired of it. We've experienced just about every type of weather this past month - from rain to snow to sleet - and we probably even had some hail at some point. It's been warm, cool, cold, and bitter cold but that hasn't stopped us from enjoying the beautiful lights, displays and warm feelings that the Christmas season brings us each year. This year is our "quiet Christmas year". Our daughters and their families are spending Christmas with their in-laws and our son Alex is in California serving a mission for our church (we get to talk to him today!!!) and Terry worked in the ER from 12pm - 12am. So my son Jonathan and I shared Christmas Eve dinner with him at the hospital.

Of course, in order to make the holiday complete, I must quote our beloved Linus:

"And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid ... And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings o great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ, the Lord." "And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men."

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." - Linus Van Pelt

Merry Christmas!
Mary

Welcome to our BLOG!

Things certainly have changed since our chapter first began in January of 1999. It's our 10th anniversary and I wanted to share how things have changed.

1. In 1999 I had an e-mail address, but I never checked it. BLOGS didn't exist.
2. In 1999 our chapter donated 98 blankets to seriously ill and traumatized children.
3. In 1999 We had 1 recipient facility - Decatur Memorial Hospital. We also donated 25 blankets to the students effected by the terrible tragedy at Columbine High School.
4. In 1999 Project Linus National HQ was located in Denver Colorado and I never dreamed I'd serve on the National Board of Directors.
5. In 1999 we started our chapter with a volunteer base of about 12 blanketeers.
6. In 2009 I have e-mail that I check dozens of times each day. Our chapter has a BLOG.
7. We will have donated over 40,000 blankets to seriously ill and traumatized children in Central IL
8. We have 20 regular recipient facilities as well as many individual children who have received blankets from our chapter for various reasons.
9. We have 3 major events each year - National Make a Blanket Day on the third Saturday of February, Fall Make a Blanket Day in September and our Appreciation Breakfast in December. We usually have over 150 volunteers in attendance at each event!
10. We now have over 500 volunteers!

So, as you can see, in 10 years Project Linus has grown by leaps and bounds. I will try to keep you posted on all of our Project Linus news through the BLOG and our newsletter (which comes out 3 times a year).

In the meantime - Project Linus Hugs to all of you!
Happy Blanketmaking!
Mary