With Christmas right around the corner, I  just finished my 2nd Annual Teddy Bear Fundraiser for Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California.  Through the support and generous donations from people all over the country and even a few in Japan, I was able to raise $1,475, including my own money, to buy 500 teddy bears for the kids.  Although we didn’t reach last year’s amount, I know each bear will make a difference in someone’s life.

Bears of all sizes, colors and shapes have been ordered and should arrive by the end of this week. They get unpacked from their boxes, sorted, and then my parents and I will tie a donation tag on each and every bear with the name of the person that donated. After each one has their special name tag around their neck, they are neatly packed again in larger bags ready for their trip to San Diego on December 18.

500 bears will be fill about 10 large bags.  Since we don’t have a mini-van, we contacted our local Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Temecula, California.  They were generous and offered to give us a half-price deal on a rental and said they would check to see if they could make a full donation. So hopefully, by the time the delivery date comes, they will be able to do that.  Either way, I appreciate their support and help toward this effort.

Thank you to every person who donated to this great cause. I couldn’t have done this without you. To see a list of the supporters, please visit Pencil Bugs. After we deliver the bears, I will post a short video and update to this story. The video is now online on my YouTube Channel.

Charity should not be just at Christmas. Since I started my business, I have been donating to help kids in various ways throughout the year. There are so many good causes and people that need help in different situations. 2011 may be the start of something new in my charitable efforts. Stay tuned.

This last bit of Christmas trivia is good to remember all year long since it is health-related.  It is estimated that 400,000 people become sick each year from eating tainted Christmas leftovers.  I read this on several websites but couldn’t find the actual source to verify it but if you’re like most families, there was lots of food set out during the holidays.  Everyone seems to take more time eating holiday meals than regular meals any other day of the year so food sits on the table or counter a lot longer. Then there are the people who like to keep eating all day long so some munchies sit out for hours.  But how long should food be left out before it starts to go bad?

This ABC News/Health story explains how to tell if food has gone bad and how long you should keep leftovers.  It’s good to remember all year long, not just during the holidays.

My parents have a saying, “When in doubt, throw it out” because it’s better to be safe than sorry.  And who would want to get sick between Christmas and New Years just because you ate some bad leftovers or food that set out too long?  Even your favorite leftover turkey or stuffing wouldn’t be worth it.  And if you’re not sure if it’s spoiled or not, please don’t feed it to your pets either.

Happy New Year to everyone!  Eat healthy!

If you missed any of my 12 Days of Christmas Trivia, just scroll down to read the rest.

Scroll down in my blog to read more Christmas trivia from days 1-6.

According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, each fall they receive about 5 to 10 calls for the poison control center because a child ate some poisonous berry or seed.

Morale of the story: Just because it looks good, doesn’t mean it is good.

If you’re reading this trivia today and wondering why I’m still on the 12 Days of Christmas after Christmas, scroll down in my blog and read Day 1 which explains the 12 Days of Christmas.  You can also catch up on the days you missed.

Several hundred years ago, people used to think that it was formed from bird poop.   Now we know that’s not true because otherwise there would be mistletoe everywhere that bird poop lands.   It still needs the right kind of host to start growing. The seeds are spread in the fruit which is eaten by birds.

When you think about it, it’s kind of weird that people use it during the holidays to kiss under.

Source:  Bellarmine University

Source:  ABCOG

Keep checking back each day to have fun with more Christmas trivia each day.

Thanks again to everyone who supported me and helped make a lot of kids at Rady Children’s Hospital a little happier this Christmas when they received a fluffy teddy bear.

My parents were like most parents.  They lied about Santa, where he lived, how he delivered presents all over the world in just one night, and most of all, how he was real and that his reindeer could magically fly.

My grandparents live on a farm in North Dakota. Having been there many times and seeing the different animals they raise, I knew that animals couldn’t fly.  I was in kindergarten when I started to ask more questions about Santa and his reindeer.  I figured that if my grandpa’s cows couldn’t fly, then probably neither could reindeer.

So at age five, I came right out and asked Mom and Dad again if Santa was real. Apparently, they suspected that I might be too smart for them to continue the lie.  But before they confessed, they questioned why I was asking.

I proceeded to explain my logic.  There wasn’t much time for Mom to decide how to respond.  In a matter of minutes, she confessed everything and said how smart I was to figure it all out at such a young age.

After the Santa truth was revealed, Mom then told me that a lot of other kids probably still believed in Santa and his flying reindeer.  She said I had to be a big boy and make sure I didn’t tell the other kids what I had learned so I wouldn’t spoil it for them.

I agreed not to tell.

Just because I had figured out that Santa wasn’t real, it didn’t spoil the fun and excitement of Christmas for me.  Mom and Dad still hide one present until Christmas eve and then put it under the tree for Christmas morning with a tag that says, To Jason, From Santa.

Santa doesn’t have to be real to make Christmas magical.

Leave me a comment and tell me how and when you or your kids learned the Santa Truth?

The more I thought about that phrase, the more selfish it seemed. I know that stores are in business to make money, just like I am with my Pencil Bugs business, but at a time in our economy when things are hard for a lot of people, putting an ad out like this to make people think they have to have everything they want doesn’t seem quite right.

If people feel entitled to have everything they want, what’s left? It’s good to appreciate the things you have and if you buy what you need instead of everything you want, you’ll be ahead in the long run.

I guess big companies like Penneys don’t really think about the message they send in their ads or what it must feel like to the people who don’t have jobs to buy things for Christmas this year.

I know I’ve said things like “I want . . . ” but if I ever sound demanding, my parents make sure I don’t get what I want just to keep me in check.  Do I like when they do that?  No.  But when I can look back on the situation, I can see why they do what they do.  It’s a good way to learn the value of things, not overspend, or feel entitled.  I guess that’s why I’ve liked donating toys, etc. to kids in the hospital. I know they appreciate it and it makes me feel good.

Maybe the Penneys ad should have read, “Give to Someone in Need” and get rid of the “Me, Me, Me” idea.

What started out as a small fundraiser in August to raise enough money to buy 250 teddy bears for kids in the hospital for Christmas, exploded into a gigantic success!  27 very large bags and five boxes later, I never imagined it would have turned out this well.

There are so many people to thank for helping me make this possible.

• My parents, Don and Nancy O’Neill, for EVERYTHING they do to always help me.
• Catherine Garcia of KNSD TV in San Diego, California who interviewed me for their news the week of Thanksgiving. Because of the interview, MSN picked up my story and donations started flooding in from around the world.
• Every person who donated money to help buy bears.  From $5 – $500, every dollar received was used to buy bears.  Including my own donation, the grand total received was $5,130 which bought 1800 bears.  A complete list of generous supporters can be found on my Pencil Bugs website.
• Lisa Vinton and Darcy Jones of Only2Degrees in Temecula, California who made a few calls and found several people willing to donate a truck so that we could deliver the bears to the hospital.
• Rachel Mason of Hemet Hospice in Hemet, California who donated their organization’s truck, driver, and time. Rachel was so excited to be a part of my Christmas project that she is even coming with us on delivery day.

One of the most fun parts for me was opening up box after box to see what type of bears we received.  We ordered an assortment of bears which made it interesting.  Each box was a surprise but the biggest surprise was when I opened a couple of the last dozen boxes.  We didn’t expect to receive Santa bears but we got about two dozen assorted Santas.  Then to top it off, there were three large yellow bears that looked a lot like Winnie the Pooh so I’m sure three kids will be very surprised and happy when they receive those bears.

After we had finished with the first two shipments of bears (1100 total) and had tied donation tags on each one, Mom put together a short video with highlights. Stay tuned for the video update after the big delivery.