hope for the holidays

“Hope for the Holidays”

            Sometime between now and Christmas Day I hope to attend as many local Holiday events as I can stand. I’m taking Kay with me, too. Just seems like a good idea.

            Unfortunately, we’re getting a late start. We’ve missed tree lighting ceremonies in every city, town, hamlet, courthouse, doghouse and outhouse in a four county area. I may drag Kay to one or two of the Christmas tree un-plugging and take-down ceremonies in late March. I imagine they’ll have snacks and drinks provided.

            I would really like to get a room for Kay and me in one of the hotels in The Woodlands. Spend a day or two just looking at all the lights and stuff, and eat at a couple of the nice restaurants in the area.  Of course, I don’t want to take away anything from Friday’s six o’clock “Movie in the Park” in Conroe, but the movie is “The Elf” and I’m just not a big Will Ferrell fan. If Benicio del Toro was the Elf, I’d be there. I like anything he’s in.

            The one big event of which I’m committed, takes place on Saturday, Dec 15. It’s big, like really BIG. It’s a production called “Hope for the Holidays” and will be performed in the more than ample auditorium at College Park High School. H for the H is a Christmas stage production modeled after one of those Bob Hope or Andy Williams type Christmas shows. Most of you are too young to remember stuff like that, so it’s your big chance to find out what you missed.

            The production was written and produced by the lovely and talented Jodie Schrier from The Woodlands. I knew her as Jodie Domengeaux when she was in my class at McCullough High. I must not have messed the girl up too much, or else she wouldn’t have asked me to co-host with Dori Barber, a lovely and charming young lady who works with a massive assembly known as The Woodlands United Methodist Church. I believe the nearest Disunited Methodist Church is located somewhere in Tennessee. -- Why can’t we all just learn to get along?

            Comments like that are what make Dori’s role as co-host so crucial. Dori Barber has a quick wit, and promises to be a good stabilizing force for me. Jodie made her promise to keep her old teacher in check. I have no idea who is supposed to control Dori, because that girl is way out there.

            The good thing about being co-hosts is that we don’t have to sing or dance. Everyone else who appears on the stage will be doing one or the other. Some will do both. You will get to hear solo-vocalists who are among the best of the best in the county… if not the world. David Troth, Michelle Brown, Gary Lynn Floyd, Alyssa Smith and JR Smith will absolutely hate me for putting that kind of pressure on them. (They made me say that.)

            You will see toy soldiers marching, flowers dancing, pianists piano-ing and other fun Christmas stuff like that. Afterwards, you’re going to want to walk home in pretend-snow singing “O’ Holy Night.” Jodie refused to let Dori and me sing “O’ Holy Night” so somebody ought to get to sing it. If there is any dead time, Dori and I may try it anyway. Hey, we’re not getting paid for this gig. --  And, that’s the joy of ”Hope for the Holidays.”

            You see, all proceeds – every cent from each ticket -- goes to a charity called “Cassidy Joined for Hope.” The foundation was created by Kim and Jud Hess whose 16 year-old daughter Cassidy Jade Hess, a junior at College Park High School, took her life at home on the afternoon of December 20, 2015. There was absolutely no indication that Cassidy was having any trouble. She was doing well in school, was active, well liked, and showed no discernible signs of depression. The Hess family will never fully recover from that horror, but they are doing what they can to change a trend that is happening time and again in families all across the county.   

            Kim and Jud Hess favored the name “Cassidy Joined for Hope” for the charity, because it incorporates their daughter’s initials – CJH – but it also instills the thought of HOPE in the lives of young and old alike. The mission of the charity is to make us all aware of the ever increasing number of teen suicides in this county, and to train mentors, provide speakers, and “partner with community leaders and churches and other non-profit organizations to offer more youth outreach programs.” All of these descriptive words sound good as all get out, but more than that, they are being put into action by all of those involved in “Cassidy Joined for Hope.”

            Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door or on-line at “cassidyjoinedforhope.com/hopefortheholidays.  All of the production costs have been taken care of by individuals and businesses in the community. If you’re able to attend one of two performances – either at 2:00 or 6:00 -- on Saturday December 15, you will be dazzled by the talent, and you will have helped to reveal the hope that seems hidden to too many of those among us.  

            We do so hope to see you there. – And, please know that I was just joking about Dori and me singing “O’ Holy Night.”

             

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