On the second day of Christmas, they decorated the living room with Christmas lights and garland.
And on the third, fourth and every day in December, the Johnson family of Tilden Township engaged in some type of Christmas-themed activity.
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They called it, simply, 25 Days of Christmas.
Amid cancellations of holiday events brought on by the COVID-19 crisis, the Johnsons have turned inward and refocused their observance of the holiday season on family.
Chuck, Lisa and 16-year-old Madison drew up a list of activities they could do together as a family.
No, there were no partridges in pear trees, swans a-swimming or pipers playing.
Patti Brunner Collins pulled out the ornament while her family was putting up the Christmas tree, not long ago. While it is made of simple cardboard and cotton, it is as precious as any Yuletide heirloom in Western New York.
Collins stores it carefully each year, protected and cushioned inside a Ziploc bag. The ornament portrays a handmade Santa Claus, created about 45 years ago in a first grade classroom at SS Peter & Paul School in Hamburg â the kind of project on which an intent little kid with paste, scissors and cotton, bent forward at her desk, clearly spent some time.
WBFO s Kyle Mackie reports.
The program, called Student to Student, was originally developed by the Jewish Federation of St. Louis more than 10 years ago, but its replication in Western New York couldn’t be more timely: Hate crimes motivated by religion rose about 7% in 2019, according to the latest FBI statistics, and 60% of crimes in that category targeted Jews far more than any other religious group. There’s also a closely documented link between anti-Semitism and a wide range of extremist groups in the U.S.
Ava Rosenthal, a sophomore at Williamsville East High School, takes a selfie with a slide about Jewish diet from a Student to Student presentation.
Ruth Alice Lauman, age 83 hamburgreporter.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hamburgreporter.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.