Happy Holidays - A Potpourri of Goodness For You

It's a very LOLCat Christmas!

Seriously loyal readers, I feel genuinely bad about how little I've posted here. I'm a lot busier this year with my family, my band, work, freelance work, and everything else.

For the last month or so, I would see stories that I'd mark to post on this blog later...but later turned into later then later...and so forth.

So without further adieu, here are those stories. No fancy pictures, intros, or anything - just a potpourri of goodness for you to digest, smile and pass along to your friends.

Enjoy!

• Random Acts of Kindness Across the Country (video)
• Homeless Man Finds $3,300 Cash, Returns It (video)
• Couple Wins $11.2M Lottery, Then Gives It All Away (article)
• Down Syndrome Goes Viral, Thanks to a High School Touchdown (video/article)
• Blind man bowls a perfect game — and it's not a fluke (article)
• Driver thanks man who hit him on purpose (article)
• Reddit Funds Big Party at Toy Store for Dying Girl (video/article)
• Comedian Delivers 100,000 Compliments (article)

Now for my greatest hits for the curious. Like I did last year, here are the most popular Sublime Goodness posts of 2010 (ranked in order by page views from 1/1 to now):

1. Cute Things Falling Asleep
2. Funny Dog Videos
3. Gardening Helps Man Put Life Back Together
4. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'le
5. Maru the Japanese Cat - Famous & Funny
6. Four-Year-Old Drummer Jonah Rocks
7. Beautiful Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography
8. Are You Living Life to the Fullest?
9. Miracle on the Hudson - Chesley Sullenberger is My Hero
10. 5 Surprising Happiness Habits That Could Change Your Life

Yes, most of these made the list last year and all posts are well over a year old. Anyway, that's the power of search engine optimization I guess.

Also,, strange that "Funny Cat Videos" was #1 last year...and isn't even in the top 10 this year! Pprobably because looking at the original "Funny Cat" post tonight I noticed the video was removed from YouTube...I've re-added it tonight and will see who wins next year in the battle of funny cats vs. dogs!

A Christmas Miracle: Mother & Baby "Died" Then Revived

Warning: This story is goose-bump inducing and awe inspiring. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

In what is being hailed as a Christmas "miracle," a young mother died during labor with a still-born baby on Christmas Eve but both mom and baby came back to life just minutes later, before the eyes of the nearly heartbroken, stunned father.

> Read more about this story here

Related Sublime Goodness Posts:

• Teenage Girl Only Survivor of Plane Crash into Indian Ocean
• Miracle on the Hudson - Chesley Sullenberger is My Hero
• Girl, Age 7, Had 6 Organs Taken out to Remove Tumor
• Flight 1549's Good Luck Charm - Passenger Maryann Bruce
  

Chicago 911 Dispatchers Save Christmas

This story was posted in the "odd news" section of United Press International yesterday - It's a great story, but sadly it is "odd" in the sense that it's rare. Don't you wish that helping out those in need wasn't "odd?"

I think this is a beautiful story of some co-workers coming together and transcending their everyday lives - and daily grind - for a greater purpose.

From UPI:

Chicago's 911 dispatchers say they rescued Christmas this year for a family whose distraught grandmother had called for help.

Shirley Bell, 61, called 911 Christmas Eve morning for her very upset 8-year-old grandson, Malik Parish, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday.

"It was something about that grandmother's voice, and that child and his candidness. He said, 'I don't have any toys for Christmas,'" said 911 dispatcher Pamela Jenkins.

Bell, who has custody of five children, said she recently suffered a stroke and a heart attack, and support checks from the state had not arrived.

Jenkins alerted co-workers and dispatched police officers, who found a nice, clean home without a single sign of Christmas, the Sun-Times reported.

Within hours, the 911 dispatchers and their families had gathered $200 for new presents to go with nice toys and clothes donated by their own children, Jenkins said. Malik got a G.I. Joe and a PlayStation 1 and groceries were delivered to his family Christmas Day.

"There are countless times we want to help,'' Jenkins said. "I enjoyed it, and I wished we could help people more than we do.''

Watch a CNN video interview with the dispatchers:

Woman Posts Open Invite to Holiday Meal

Would you invite strangers over to your Christmas dinner? Watch the following video about a North Carolina woman who posted a public invitation to her family dinner on Craigslist in the spirit of the holiday.

'Internal Decapitation': One Boy's Amazing Recovery

You probably saw that headline and said "what?" I did too.

Internal decapitation is when your skull separates from your spine...and nine-year old Jordan Taylor not only survived it recently, but is doing well!

98 out of 100 people with this injury do not survive.

His mother said it best:

"I'm just grateful that he is alive and breathing, and he is walking -- I have to tell him to slow down."

"This is the best Christmas miracle that I could ever imagine."

> Read the Full Story

> See Video Coverage from Local News

Army Dad Shocks Girl on Santa’s Lap

It was this video and a similar one that gave me the inspiration for this blog. I shared a few videos like this before with friends and it touched them deeply... I figured more than just my friends would enjoy it as well.


Dec. 5: Three-year-old Kensley Penney got her Christmas wish when her father, who had been serving in Afghanistan, came home for the holidays. WXII's Kim Gebbia reports.