The Yelm Community Blog has published an annual Christmas message since 2006. The following are in the Christmas Spirit:

– The Polar Express – “I Believe” scene
This excerpt reminds us that the true spirit of Christmas lies in each of our hearts.
Watch here


“Christmas in the Northwest – Brenda Kutz White”
“Post production opening clip taken from The Christmas in the Northwest Christmas special that aired on KOMO TV [Channel 4] in Seattle back in December of 1987 featuring Brenda Kutz White’s song “Christmas in the Northwest.”

All proceeds from the Christmas in the Northwest project go to Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington.”
Copyright © 1987 Fisher Broadcasting, Inc.
Click here for the video.


– 10,000 singing Beethoven’s – Ode an die Freude (Ode to Joy)
Worth hearing and seeing, from 2012.
Click here


– Michael W. Smith – Christmastime (Live From Portland, Oregon, On November 20, 2016). Editor’s note: Long-time RSE students will recognize and be touched by this song!
Click here for this moving rendition of a holiday favorite.


– “Do You Hear What I Hear? (Home Free) (Christmas A Cappella)” 2015
“Originally written during the Cuban missile crisis [Oct. 1962], a parallel can be drawn to any time when the world needs a reminder to love not hate.”
Click here for the video.


– “Christmas Gift Suggestions”
By Oren Arnold
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.


– “Interesting Facts About Christmas”
“No matter how many Christmases you’ve celebrated, you may not know how five of the most common Christmas traditions came about. Let’s begin with a few interesting facts about Christmas from History.com:
* Christmas was declared a U.S. federal holiday on June 26, 1870
* Every year, 30 to 35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S., most of them cultivated by one of the nation’s 21,000 Christmas tree growers
* Poinsettias are named after Joel R. Poinsett, an American minister to Mexico, who brought the plant to America from Mexico in 1828
* The Salvation Army has been collecting Christmas donations on the streets across the U.S. since the 1890s
* “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was written in 1939 by copywriter Robert L. May as a marketing piece to attract customers to the Montgomery Ward department store2
* Construction workers initiated the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition in New York City in 1931
* The first eggnog made in the U.S. was consumed at the Jamestown settlement in 1607
By Dr. Mercola.
Read more