My size?

Looking for that last-minute christmas gift for yours truly?  Dear Santa, I really need some new threads.  My size?   That’s a tough one to answer.  I always seem to somehow be in-between sizes to confidently offer a recommendation.  Gaining and losing weight at a roller coaster pace does that to a person.

I’m definitely NOT a Size Zero (o).
Or a size Double Zero (00).

I’m not skeletal.  Confident about that.  Trust me, my chest-stomach-hips don’t measure out 30-22-32 inches to 33-25-35 inches.  Not sure they ever have.  Not even at birth.  I don’t remember anyone buying this newborn Size Zero onesies, pajamas, socks, hats, bibs or mittens when I popped into the dizzying world of warm, fashionable baby clothes.

And I’m definitely NOT a Size 10XL (XXXXXXXXXXL)

I’m not giganotosaurus.  Both of my bottom cheeks can fit snugly but comfortably into one airline passenger seat, not two or three.  If it ever got to the point that my bulging butt couldn’t fit into my desired mode of mass transportation, I’d ponder renting a 26-foot U-Haul truck with enough cargo space for four rooms of furniture and hire a trusty, skinny driver to move my fat ass from here to there and back again.  Bags ride free.

Any clothing sizes between Zero and 10XL should work just fine.  No need to get me a gift receipt.  If it’s too small, it will serve as a nice incentive to lose a few additional pounds and squeeze into it someday soon.  If it’s too large, no big deal.  I’ll layer it over some ugly shirts and sweaters still hanging around in my closet.

Just buy it.  Wrap it.

I’ll happily rip it open and wear it.

And say that it fits me perfect.

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Each “98.5 laps” blog entry also features
wellness success stories and key resources
located throughout Waukesha County and southeast Wisconsin:

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Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County

Many Families In Need … Many Ways To Help

PO Box 34

Waukesha, WI  53187-0034

262-549-NOEL (6635)

Christmas Clearing Council helps children in need at Christmas

The Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County (CCC) promotes and coordinates giving to families in need during the Christmas season. We provide a clearinghouse that matches these families with area groups, families, businesses, and individuals who wish to help people less fortunate on a person-to-person basis. In 2010 we coordinated giving to more than 4,500 children in 1,900 families in Waukesha County.

CCC Celebrates More Than 60 years of Christmas Giving

In 1949, radio station WAUX began the Empty Stocking Club, an organization that collected money, clothes and toys for distribution through the City Welfare Office to needy families during the Christmas season. By 1955, with more than 81 families receiving help, the Waukesha Service Club and Jaycettes, working with the Health and Welfare Section of Waukesha County Council of Social Agencies, managed this program. Within a few years, it was operated as an independent organization, now called Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County. Christmas Clearing Council was officially incorporated and chartered as a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization in 1979.

CCC’s giving program relies on hundreds of community volunteers

Families in need are referred to the Christmas Clearing Council by a number of agencies who qualify families based on income, residence and placement. The Christmas giving program includes sponsorship, a Toy Shop and gift certificates mailed directly to older children, ages 12-18. The sponsorship program matches a needy family with an individual, family or organization that wishes to help them on a one-to-one basis. Sponsors are asked to provide each eligible child with the value of about $60 in gifts that reflect the child’s needs and wants. Sponsors deliver the gifts directly to the family. Families who are not sponsored are invited to a Toy Shop held the Saturday before Christmas, where they are able to select new toys and gifts for their children. These toys and other items are donated by the community through local toy drives or at public toy collection sites organized by CCC at more than 70 local businesses and fire stations. Older children receive gift certificates.

All of this is accomplished with the help of hundreds of community volunteers, three part-time staff members, a volunteer board of directors and many generous donors throughout the county. Staff and board members, with volunteer help, coordinate mailings and appeals, activities and projects, collect, enter and match applications from families and sponsors, and organize and operate the Toy Shop. CCC also purchases new bikes (at cost) and books to supplement donated toys at our annual Toy Shop.

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Thanks for visiting …

The next blog post will return on Wednesday 12/28