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My eyes were still closed, but I could feel someone staring at me. It’s a rather creepy feeling, but I knew exactly who it was.

My brother Matthew is four years younger than I, and he was always the first one to be wide awake on Christmas morning.

I was a bit annoyed since this tradition was ongoing and he was already 20 years old.

I would groggily roll over and try to ignore him – the gifts would still be there – so I didn’t see any point in vacating my warm bed before seven in the morning.

“Come on Josh! I can’t open anything until you’re out of bed, get up!” he would plead.

Walking upstairs to where the family Christmas tree sat surrounded by a myriad of brightly colored gifts was always my favorite part of the day… maybe more so than actually opening the gifts. The anticipation of what sat inside for each person, and the hope that it was something that I “really” wanted as opposed to a pair of new socks was almost nerve wracking.

However, with economic forecasters predicting a further decline in the markets, and the government bailing out everyone but Joe the Plumber, many families will be tightening their belts this Christmas.

Yet some families don’t even have a belt to tighten. In a time that has foreclosures rising, and many parents more concerned with how they are going to feed their kids, much less purchase the new PlayStation Rock Band – the idea of any kind of big Christmas is the last thing on their mind. But who’s going to explain the term “recession” to seven year old little Suzy on Christmas morning?

Before you dust off your economics book, and prepare your PowerPoint presentation on the myths of Social Security to the kiddo’s this Christmas, be aware that there is hope in Johnson City.

The Christmas J.O.Y. (Johnson City Outreach for Youth) program is currently accepting applications from families in need of their services for this upcoming holiday season.

The outreach program is intended to assist families who have children that will not receive anything this holiday season in hopes of providing at least some Christmas joy for the family this year. The program is intended to assist families who are in the kind of financial crisis that resulted in Junior’s first words being: “What 401k?” It is not intended to help families who can afford a small Christmas but would rather take advantage of the system.

This year the program hopes to provide at least $75 worth of gifts for each child in the program. However, as of the last city council meeting, Christmas J.O.Y. still desperately needed a good deal of financial support to meet their goals.

Applications are available at the Johnson City Record Courier and the Johnson City City Hall. Both sides of the application need to be completed and turned in no later than Tuesday, November 25th to the Johnson City Record Courier, or the Johnson City City Hall. You can also mail the application to: Christmas J.O.Y., PO BOX 1330, Johnson City, Texas 78636. (But they must be in Christmas J.O.Y. hands by the deadline)

Please be aware that late applications will not be accepted.

For more information or to offer donations and support to Christmas J.O.Y. contact Emily Zbytovsky at the Johnson City Record Courier (830-868-7181) or Tammy Liesmann at City Hall (830-868-7111).