Greetings and Happy Holidays Friends,
Another year has blown by. It seems so crazy how fast it has gone. Our grandson is 2 1/2, our company is 34 years old, Becky and I have been married for 37 years and for the last 8 years, we have decorated downtown Modesto for a Rockin’ Holiday. It seems like the memories stay pretty clear. I remember as a kid, going to JC Penny, Kress, and Sears in downtown Modesto, seeing the decorations over the street and feeling so festive and that is was inspired us to try to bring that back in downtown Modesto. I hope that we can inspire new shop windows to browse, maybe a new florist or magical place and make people want to walk around, stop and shop, get a drink or dinner, see a show and make a night out of it. Rockin’ Holiday should help bring those memories back with snow, Santa, festive Rockin’ tree, local music and so much more. Please stop by and enjoy. It is all free for you to enjoy, thanks to our friends and partners. Working together is how we make Modesto better where we take an idea, and build on it as a team. Teamwork, respect, trust and friendship are the keys to making things happen.
At our house, the Christmas holiday season did not begin until after Thanksgiving. Dinner, Tree, Decorations, and then, we watch Christmas Vacation complete with Wally World cup of eggnog. It is really important to enjoy the time you are in and it is always kind of weird for me as we are always working one to two months ahead for ModestoView, that I really try to enjoy the moments we are in. Take time to share a cocktail, a cozy dinner with friends and enjoy things that bring us together. That is really what this season is all about beyond the various religious celebrations.
Now that this toxic election season is over, we need to get back to finding what brings us together, what our families and communities need and groups that we need to support. The core message for this season is goodwill to all. Yes, ALL people. How hard can it be to respect people for who they are, and let them be who and what they are? Yet we see groups and people trying to make their own view, the rule for someone else. Nonsense. If we learn anything from life is you get what you give and treat others as you want to be treated. This is really simple people and this is what true freedom and liberty is. To live in peace is to not live in fear that someone will take that from freedom and liberty from you. Our community is richer, better and more creative if we embrace our diversity.
So, with all of that said, what are we going to do to make our community better and more inclusive this month? Let’s look at our end of year giving and make sure we are helping groups that really help others, and embrace all of our community. If we have end of year goals, let’s help build our city in a positive way, helping the Gospel Mission, Salvation Army, CASA, Society for disAbilities or Hospice that bring care to others. Or maybe in our new museums like Graffiti USA and the Children’s Museum that will bring families and people together from all around the country to Modesto.
We can do this friends. We need to support our local people and business. The most important thing is to keep our support local, shopping small, listening to local bands at local venues, patronizing locally owned companies and supporting local non-profits. It is really pretty simple and for this holiday season, I wish you and yours a wonderful season and wish you health and happiness.
I want to thank our team at Sierra Pacific Warehouse Group for being an amazing part of the global supply chain and allowing me and our company to give back and be part of our community.
From our family to yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Chanukah and Peace to all.
Chris Murphy
Founder & Publisher, ModestoView
chrism@modestoview.com<mailto:chrism@modestoview.com>
chrism@spwg.com<mailto:chrism@spwg.com>
