Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my Camaro Comrades, Firebird Friends, and Corvette Cousins

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my Camaro Comrades, Firebird Friends, and Corvette Cousins —

As we come to the end of another year, I want to thank you for your loyalty to GM – – and to thank you for your friendship.

Yes, the economy isn’t the best – the future is somewhat uncertain – and we’re all getting a bit older — but we have so very much to be thankful for….

Those of us who live in the United States and Canada have freedoms that most of the world can only dream of…….

This year, we are blessed to have many of our Troops coming home — and it’s important that we  thank them along with all of our other Troops and  Veterans for giving us these Freedoms.

However – while many will be making their way home, we will still have tens of thousands serving the world over – and so as you visit with friends and family this Holiday season, please don’t forget to say prayers for our Guys and Gals who continue to fight for and preserve Freedom…..

And let’s not forget the sacrifices made by their families…..

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) —

** Seatbelts!  They’re there to save you and your loved ones.  Please use them each and every time.

** Please – if you’re going to celebrate by drinking – please appoint a Designated Driver or call a cab —

– I’d like to share something that our good friends Brian and Mary Lazarus from Windsor, Ontario sent me – it’s most appropriate and I thank them for sharing………you are welcome to pass it on!……………..

Merry Christmas – Happy Holidays – and may the New Year bring you all that is good………….

 

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So slumbered I  — perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Trooper, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!”
“Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.”

“No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died in Europe on a day in December,”
Then he sighed,
“That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.”

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red and the white … A Canadian flag.
“I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.”

“So go back inside,” he said, “harbour no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”

“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

Scott Settlemire
GM/GMC
Manager Specialty Vehicles / Special Events