HO-HO-HO 2

Santa is right here on THE INSPIRER

If you took part in the first ever quiz/ giveaway on THE INSPIRER, here are the correct answers to the set of questions.
Q1-. Jungle Bells, Jungle bells..
Q2-The letter D
Q3-First of July, Time

No one got the entire set right................too bad!

In the Spirit of Yuletide, THE INSPIRER in collaboration with T-PRAISE CONCEPT set out on her first ever reach out programme. You can get the details and pictures of the event on our "reach out" page. Touching lives is our priority and it was well demonstrated on a visit to the king's kid home located at Alheri, Jos.  See all of it!!!!!!

HO-HO-HO

It is that season of the year again and the frenzy is encroaching. I can feel it in the air; I can smell it in the waters and I can almost touch it in the sky. Every single person is engrossed in the hustle and bustle of the yuletide. This morning, I was jolted to life by the traditional chirping of the birds behind my window but today, aside from the usual “wake up sunshine” call, they deliver, they told me something else and I have no reason to doubt them because they got it straight from the elves……… Santa Claus is coming to town!!!!!
You probably should start making that list. I thought I d pass on the information.
Last year I was told the story of the little boy Sammy, who wanted Santa to get him a brand new bike for Christmas. Read this:

It was coming up to Christmas and Sammy asked his mum if he could have a new bike. So, she told him that the best idea would be to write to Santa Claus. But Sammy, having just played a vital role in the school nativity play, said he would prefer to write to the baby Jesus. Sammy went to his room and wrote ' Dear Jesus, I have been a very good boy and would like to have a bike for Christmas.' But he wasn't very happy when he read it over. So he decided to try again and this time he wrote 'Dear Jesus, I'm a good boy most of the time and would like a bike for Christmas.' He read it back and wasn't happy with that one either. He tried a third version. 'Dear Jesus, I could be a good boy if I tried hard and especially if I had a new bike.' He read that one too, but he still wasn't satisfied. So, he decided to go out for a walk while he thought about a better approach. After a short time he passed a house with a small statue of the Virgin Mary in the front garden. He crept in, stuffed the statue under his coat, hurried home and hid it under the bed. Then he wrote this letter. 'Dear Jesus, if you want to see your mother again, you'd better send me a new bike.'

How about the story of the 20 years old Ella, let me share as the season demands.

Santa Claus at the shopping mall was very surprised when a young lady aged about 20 years old walked up and sat on his lap. Now, we all know that Santa doesn't usually take requests from adults, but she smiled very nicely at him and asked 'What do you want for Christmas?' 'Something for my mother, please,' replied young lady sweetly. 'Something for your mother? Well, that's very loving and thoughtful of you,' smiled Santa. 'What do would you like me to bring her?' Without pausing, the lady answered quickly, 'A millionaire son-in-law.'

Maybe you have not quite decided on what to ask Santa for; I just gave you a few pointers. Anyway, as you ruminate on that, follow this closely, in the spirit of Christmas, the most celebrated festival on earth and space I suppose, THE INSPIRER is setting out to inspire you some more but this time with fewer words.
How would you love to participate in the first ever “INSPIRED XMAS GIVE-AWAY!!!!!!!” and win one of two fabulous prices.
It’s a cinch.
For the next two Sundays, effective today, 16^th December, click on our brand new HO-HO-HO page and solve a quiz, get it correct and you win for yourself an amazing Christmas present on the 23^rd of December to reach out to your friends and family. Visit the page now, get more details and begin to play.
Santa Claus is coming to town and you better make sure he visits you.

IDIOSYNCRAZY

          

 

       They were standing in the foyer that linked both departments, engaged in what seemed to me from a distance like a heart to heart. My elder sister was beaming, a beautiful smile played across the edges of her face. She always wore that smile and never hesitated to distribute it liberally. I approached them from behind, my sister facing me directly but her course mate; with whom she was having the talk had his back at me. The foyer was crowded in its traditional manner and they didn’t seem to notice me approaching, the young man was so engrossed in the conversation and was making gestures with virtually every mobile part of his body, “does she even smile? She walks around with this intimidating look like she is the only one on the planet. You guys are so different- you are the quintessential warm and fuzzy lady and your sister is” the epitome of cold and hard I supplied from behind him. You should have seen his face; he looked like someone who had just had an encounter with a ferocious wraith. His mouth fell open but not a sound proceeded forth. Gaze glued to the ground, he waved hastily at my sister and disappeared into the departmental library.

We began our regimented walk to the hostel in silence until we got away from earshot, I guffawed and my sister gave me the usual long chastising stare. “It’s is your forte isn’t it? You simply love being the bad cop”
Still consumed in my laughter, I answered, we both can’t play good cop, it’s a buzz killer! She laughed too and we continued our chatter all the way to the hostel, as was our norm.

Back at the university, 99 percent of the time, you would be certain to find me in my sister’s company and vice versa. The odds were a smidgen of occasions. People admired our closeness. We shared almost everything. Her course mate was accurate in his verdict- we were completely different and we still are.

I wouldn’t walk on the street with a smile plastered across my face, I thought it was idiocy. I had my jolly times though but I guess they were classified. You simply had to earn it! I said exactly what I thought without flinching and more often than not, created a really ugly scene for my sister to clean up which she always did effortlessly with a lot of poise and finesse. She could waltz through the lion’s den with her characteristic aplomb! 
At some point down the developmental ladder, I decided I wanted to be just like my elder sister-graceful, elegant, charming, warm, soft and may be a little mushy. I decided I was going to eliminate the old me. I was sick of carrying the invisible sticky note on my forehead that had difficult written all over it but how long did the charade last? You guess!

I caught the epiphany in our final year at the university and from then on, we joked about our differences like in the instance above. I stopped getting hurt and irascible when people made their comparisons and tagged us. It was the beginning of a pleasant transmogrification. I demystified it. Being different doesn’t make you an ogre if you can discover how to constructively weld it to reinvent your personality.

I happen to know a story that I would love to share with you in the light of buttressing my point. I remember this story very vividly but what I fail to recall is where I heard it from or maybe read it from. Anyway, it happened in a very remote period. In the palace of a great king in the east lived a number of servants. Male and female serving their king with fervor but there was a certain young lad that had a hunch back. He was discriminated against by the other servants and considered a curse from the eternal keeper of the kingdom but he would always refute their words. He believed he was a blessing from the keeper and pointed it out to all of them unwaveringly.

He also maintained that someday, they will all treat him with respect like that accorded to a king for the same disability they antagonize and josh him about. They further mocked him for his hilarious assertions and so was the status quo at the servant’s quarters for years. Life was almost unbearable for the hunchbacked servant. He had not a single ally and was trampled upon at the slightest of mishap with no one to assuage his shame but he went about his chores diligently and even the chores of other servants since the chief servant made him everyone’s stooge. Time passed and nothing changed, however, the king’s daughter began to notice how hard the hunchback worked and how poorly he was treated. Like a vermin, he would sit under the oak tree in the evenings when every other palace servant socialized and play his oboe, a riveting sound that pulled the princess from her chambers that evening and several other evenings.
The chief palace servant got wind of the budding rendezvous between the hunchback and the princess and decided to sabotage it.

On a beautiful evening, after the sun had retired and the moon was gradually unveiling her beauty simultaneously as the wind whistled in a soft enthralling manner, he began to lurk around the oak tree till he was certain the princess had clandestinely arrived at the scene to listen to the mesmerizing sound of the hunchback’s oboe,