The Dogs of 2020
The popular social media account “We Rate Dogs” put together this amazing compilation of their best dog videos of 2020.
“In a year filled with so much bad… our dogs were very, very good.”
Source: https://www.sunnyskyz.com/happy-videos/10131/The-Best-Dog-Videos-Of-2020
800 musicians from 55 countries combine to create a stunning virtual video – Nearer, My God, to Thee
A Different Kind of Christmas Light Show
The Little White Envelope (A Christmas Tradition)
This story was originally published in the December 14, 1982 issue of Woman’s Day magazine.
It’s just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. Oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it – overspending and the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma – the gifts given in desperation because you couldn’t think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was on the wrestling team at the school he attended. Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler’s ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford.
Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.” Mike loved kids – all kids. He so enjoyed coaching little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That’s when the idea for his present came.
That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes, and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed a small, white envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done, and that this was his gift from me.
Mike’s smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year. And that same bright smile lit up succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition – one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.
The white envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning, and our children – ignoring their new toys – would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents. As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the small, white envelope never lost its allure.
The story doesn’t end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree. And the next morning, I found it was magically joined by three more.
Unbeknownst to the others, each of our three children had for the first time placed a white envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing to take down that special envelope.
Mike’s spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be with us.
Nancy W. Gavin
The Thanksgiving Song You Always Wanted
There are so many songs about Christmas, and one holiday always gets left out……until now!
This Might Be The Best ABC Song You Ever Hear
A little boy named Sam sings the ABC’s with a twist. Each letter represents a career choice.
It’s really good!
Source: https://www.sunnyskyz.com/happy-videos/9920/This-Might-Be-The-Best-ABC-Song-You-Ever-Hear
Duke University Librarian Makes Epic Video To Explain New Take-Out System
A librarian at Duke University just released a song to explain the new library take-out system, and it goes way harder than it has any right to.
I just watched a three minute video about a library takeout process… and I regret nothing.
Source: https://www.sunnyskyz.com/happy-videos/9865/Duke-University-Librarian-Makes-Epic-Video-To-Explain-New-Take-Out-System
Boy With Cleft Lip Finds Companion In Puppy With Cleft Lip
A Michigan boy with a cleft lip found his perfect companion: a tiny puppy who also has a cleft lip.
Jackson County Animal Shelter – Michigan
Brandon Boyer went to the Jackson County Animal Shelter in Michigan to look at chickens when a 2-month-old puppy with a cleft lip caught his eye.
He knew they had to bring her home to show his 2-year-old son Bentley he isn’t alone.
Jackson County Animal Shelter – Michigan
“To see him have something in common with a puppy means a lot because he can grow up and understand that he and his puppy both have something that they can share in common,” said Bentley’s mother, Ashley.
Jackson County Animal Shelter – Michigan
The shelter posted heartwarming photos of Bentley and his new best friend to their official Facebook account.
“It’s so hard to put into words how meaningful this adoption is to all of us so we are going to let the pictures speak for themselves,” the shelter said.
“Introducing Bentley and his new puppy. At 2 years old and with surgeries already under his belt for his cleft lip, Bentley found his match today in this tiny pup who also has a cleft lip.
They instantly loved each other. We wish many years of joy as this special pair grow up together!”
Source: https://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/3943/Boy-With-Cleft-Lip-Finds-Companion-In-Puppy-With-Cleft-Lip
Newlyweds Donate And Serve Reception Food To Homeless Shelter
When an Ohio couple’s wedding reception was canceled due to COVID-19, they decided they not only wanted to donate their reception food to a local homeless shelter, but also to serve the meals.
Credit: The City Mission / Facebook
Melanie and Tyler Tapajna had already paid the caterer, so the couple took all the food to Laura’s Home Women’s Crisis Center in Cleveland.
Credit: The City Mission / Facebook
The couple’s wedding menu included fried chicken, green beans, salad and mac and cheese.
Credit: The City Mission / Facebook
More than 130 women and children were able to enjoy the meal, thanks to the newlyweds.
Credit: The City Mission / Facebook
“We pray this amazing couple is blessed immensely in their marriage, and thank them for inviting our guests to their wedding feast,” the City Mission wrote on their official Facebook page.
Credit: The City Mission / Facebook
Camel Walks 62 Miles In Desert Alone To Find Former Owners
A homesick camel trekked more than 60 miles across the Gobi Desert in Central Asia to find its former owners.
The camel was sold by its former owners, Temur and Naren, in Qiandamen gacha of Inner Mongolia to a herdsman who raises camels in Wugai Sumu last fall. The camel trekked across mountains and rivers, climbed over fences, and crossed expressways to get to its destination. The elderly camel had reportedly walked more than 62 miles alone in the desert when a herdsman spotted it and contacted its former owners. Temur and Naren were touched by the camel’s loyalty and agreed to buy the camel back from the new owner. The couple wrapped Hada, a traditional Mongolian ceremonial scarf, around the camel’s neck making it a part of their family.
Source: https://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/3878/Camel-Walks-62-Miles-In-Desert-Alone-To-Find-Former-Owners SunnySkyz.com
Married Couple Discovers They Met 20 Years Ago.
Heidi and Ed Savitt started dating in 2011 while both attending Newcastle University but it turns out they had met 20 years earlier on vacation in Turkey.
Ed and Heidi tied the knot in 2017 after a crazy bridge of incidents that began in college.
Heidi applied to a few schools and ultimately settled on attending Newcastle University in England. After a little while living with her roommates, she decided to move out and try living alone in an apartment closer to campus. While Heidi was settling into her new studio apartment, the new tenants in her old apartment were having some issues. That’s when Heidi received an unexpected message on Facebook from a guy named Ed. “[Ed] didn’t know how to use the washing machine in the student flat,” Heidi said in an interview. “He found a post with my name on it, realized I had lived there the year before and decided I could help.” Heidi tried to describe the process over a Facebook message, but it proved to be more complicated to explain. So, she decided to just go over in person to show him. Heidi later admitted there was another reason she agreed to go in person, later saying that it was “basically because he was hot.”
Before Heidi left, Ed asked her on a date to a nearby cafe. “I thought he was gorgeous, I thought he was actually amazing,” Heidi said. “All I can remember thinking is ‘wow, he is hot’.” Ed and Heidi started dating from then on and had been together for four years when they had dinner with their mothers in Wandsworth, London.
Heidi’s mother, Kay, mentioned in passing that Heidi had a ‘holiday boyfriend’ when she was six years old who was also named Ed, and said the pair had played together and held each other’s hands for much of the two-week break. Two weeks later, Kay was going through her attic and found a dusty photo album from a sailing holiday in Gumbet, Turkey. One of the photos, dated July 1997, showed Heidi side by side with a little boy. To Kay’s amazement, she rubbed off the dust to find it was Ed, whose face was recognizable under his childhood bowl-style haircut.
“I was screaming, it was just unreal,’ Kay told Daily Mail. “Then loads more photographs came out.” Heidi’s first boyfriend, Ed, was the same Ed that she was was planning to marry. The discovery changed Heidi entire outlook on life. She told Daily Mail that she “didn’t believe in fate before finding that out, but there’s not arguing with it – we are clearly destined to be together.”
In August 2017, Ed and Heidi got married in a huge celebration in Derbyshire. Even after the big wedding day, Kay recalled that back in Turkey in 1997, “it was not just Heidi and Ed who met on that holiday, but all of us.” Ed’s siblings and Heidi’s siblings had all met during the vacation. Some of the pictures their families found in those old photo albums showed all of the siblings hanging out together. Since finding out about this unbelievable first meeting, the two families have become even more interconnected. Mothers Kay and Fiona have become best friends, along with their husbands. And since Ed and Heidi’s wedding, the two sets of parents have planned vacations together.
“We had been together for four years when we found out, so it’s mad to think that we might have never known. It’s crazy to think we could have gotten married, shared our lives together, but never found out about this,” Heidi said. “People keep telling us it must be fate, and that it’s like the plot of a movie.”
Source: https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/3102/Married-Couple-Discovers-They-Met-20-Years-Ago-The-Bridge-Of-Incidents-That-Led-To-Their-Reunion-Is-Truly-Remarkable SunnySkyz.com