Tag Archives: Christmas

Bayonne Landmark Comes Down, Holiday Tree and Trim

Holiday Tree and Trim a Bayonne Landmark located at 750 Broadway, Bayonne is being torn down, after closing more then ten years ago.

Originally opened in 1967 by Philip Minchello, Holiday Tree and Trim was known as a “Year-round Christmas wonderland,” by both customers and employees.

Once employing 75 full time workers the iconic store would have customers lined up many months in advance leading up to Christmas.

Mr. Minchello in a New York Time article was quoted saying that “December 26th was his busiest time.” and employes said working at Holiday Tree and Trim “didn’t feel like work at all.”

The store supplied artifical trees and a building filled with Holiday decorations of all types.

In the years since their closing the Bayonne landmark would remind Bayonne residents of Christmas’ gone by. However, the Holiday Tree and Trim tradition is still available through a website Christmastopia.com which was created in 1990 by Team Santa which has been involved in the Christmas industry for over 60 years in honor of passed members of Holiday Tree and Trim family, according to the Christmastopia website.

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Operation Christmas Child 2013

   Michelle Mandaro and her Family fill Shoeboxes with Holiday Gifts for Underprivileged Children

 By Sally Deering

Michelle Mandaro and family
Michelle Mandaro and her children Alexander 9 and Emilie 7 collect items all year long for Christmas Shoeboxes

 

Not all shoeboxes are the same; some hold heels, some hold sneakers; while still others hold toothbrushes, combs, socks and a whole lot of love.

Since 1993, more than 100 million children have received shoeboxes through Operation Christmas Child, a project from the Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse (www.samaritanspurse.com) with more than 100,000 volunteers creating and distributing the shoeboxes  filled with trinkets to put a smile on a child’s face Christmas morning.

Operation Christmas Child brings shoeboxes filled with trinkets – both the necessary and the fun kind – to underprivileged children throughout the country. Participating for the fifth year are Michelle Mandaro – owner of Amelia’s Bistro in Jersey City – her 9 year-old son Alexander, and 7 year-old daughter Emilie.

“My sister-in-law Fortune Mandaro has been doing it for 20 years,” Michelle Mandaro says.  “This is my fifth year doing it with my my children. Last year we created 54 shoeboxes and this year we’re making 60. My kids love shopping for the boxes they love stuffing the boxes, they write letters to the children and they receive letters back.”

Continue reading Operation Christmas Child 2013

River View Observer Cover Story-Share your Holiday Spirit with our Soldiers Overseas!


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Knights before Christmas!

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 By Sally Deering

The classic Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life!” is a holiday tradition that seems to make us all remember the true spirit of Christmas isn’t how much money you spend, but the friends and family who stick by you when the chips are down.

uso As we all get ready to spend the holidays with family and friends, let’s not forget the more than 1.5 million U.S. Servicemen-and-women deployed overseas and on active duty here in the states who won’t be home this holiday to eat dinner with the family or steal a Christmas kiss under the mistletoe. Continue reading River View Observer Cover Story-Share your Holiday Spirit with our Soldiers Overseas!

Holiday Health Stress Tips

Christ Hospital in Jersey City Offers Holiday Stress Tips

  The holidays should be a time of joy, good cheer and high hopes for the upcoming new year. However, after the gift shopping, holiday decorating, and family get-togethers are done, many people are often left with elevated levels of stress or depression this time of the year.

The holidays are also a time when people feel the loss of a loved one more sharply. Even the memory of a traumatic event, such as a serious illness, can dampen one’s holiday spirits. Older adults, for example, may feel isolated or forgotten, as the season reminds them of happier times. Continue reading Holiday Health Stress Tips

Quick and Inexpensive Holiday Decorating Ideas

holiday-saving-money-tipsThe Holidays are just around the corner, with its festive tasks of buying and wrapping gifts (and sometimes having to hide them from snoopy recipients) and decorating your home for the holidays.

 While gift-buying consumes the lion’s share of most budgets, holiday decorating doesn’t have to be expensive. A little ingenuity goes a long way!

Here are a host of ways you can decorate your home without spending a bundle this year:

Continue reading Quick and Inexpensive Holiday Decorating Ideas