Weekend Rewind

Rants and Raves: Merry Christmas and Holiday Returns

The weekly Rant and Rave, as described by your trusty Naperville.Patch.com editors. Please share your own rants and raves in comments.

Every week we share some of our rants and raves with you the reader. We also want to encourage you to share some of yours. We know you have people you'd like to compliment and we also know you have things that irritate you, so please share. You can share your comments below or you can e-mail us. If you share your rants and raves, you could be the recipient of some neat Patch swag. Who doesn't want a new water bottle? RANTS ($@!%) For those who celebrated Christmas today, we hope you received everything you wished for. We know that doesn't always happen. Or sometimes you get what you wanted, but it's the wrong color or size. That requires a trip back to the store, hopefully for an easy exchange or return. Unfortunately, returning gifts can …

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What Are You Thankful For?

People enjoying downtown Naperville share why they are grateful this holiday season.

Today is Thanksgiving. It's a time for family, food and banter among friends and relatives. It's also a time to give thanks for those things we may ordinarily overlook. We spent an afternoon this week trolling around downtown Naperville, asking people to share what they're thankful for. Answers varied from simple pleasures, like ice cream, to more serious ones, like being alive. Take a look. Happy Turkey Day!

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Mom's Eye View

Little Things Can Make Us Thankful

This mom is grateful for the small things in her life.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a Styrofoam cup containing a watery mixture of what looked like dirt and grass seed cluttering up the kitchen counter.        I thought about throwing it out. Would whichever child brought it home notice? To be on the safe side, I dumped out the water floating on top and put the cup on the window sill.                Later that day, I counted my blessings. An e-mail from Reese’s kindergarten religion teacher confirmed that the mystery cup belonged to Reese and that he was to bring the cup back at a later date to share with his class. Grass should be sprouting by then.                 I looked at the muddy mess in the cup and wondered what I was going to do when the grass didn’t sprout. Then I put it back on the …