A Christmas Message, 2011

December, 2011

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

There were about 12,000 of them.  They were poorly fed and ill-equipped, and on December 19, 1777, they marched onto the land of Isaac Potts, who owned an iron forge on Valley Creek.  As they settled in for the winter nearly a third of them had no shoes, and in the end, more than 2,500 of them would never leave Valley Forge - they would die from malnutrition and disease. 

And the cold.  The bitter, bitter cold.

It would be so easy to forget them, or to take them for granted.  Don't.  Please don't.  Not now - not ever.  Those who believed in liberty and the God-given rights of man fought and bled and died on our behalf all those Christmases ago, and the standard they painstakingly planted in that frozen field in Pennsylvania has been picked up and carried by generation after generation of American men and women.  They still, to this very day, die in the cause of freedom.

So while we bask in the joy of the holiday season, let's do something else.  Let's take a few moments to talk to our children and grandchildren about those who made us free and keep us free.  If we do nothing else, let's teach them that when we see a man or woman wearing the uniform of the United States of America, a simple "thank you" is a beautiful gift to give, a gift that requires no shopping, no wrapping and no bow - only a grateful heart beating in the chest of a grateful American.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, my dear friends, from all of us here at the Staten Island Tea Party.  Stay safe, stay strong, keep the faith and please join me in asking God to continue to bless America.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia

Staten Island, NY

12/23/11