[Madelaine Amee]

There is a story on the unmentionable online newspaper this morning about a young girl who came to the tree lighting in Brownwood and how magical it was for her.

It made me think about the way in which a lot of Village residents take for granted the events that the Developer is behind, often complaining about crowds and parking et al. Then you read this child's story of seeing the tree and Santa and the other events and how wonderful it was for her. Were it not for the Developer none of this would happen here in Central Florida, and many of the local children would not have the availability of the school system and all the opportunities their education will give them; the children that would never ever get to see a tree lighting like ours and the opportunity to see and, maybe, meet Mr. and Mrs. Claus for the first time in their life.

Those of us that come from major cities have had the opportunity to grow up with these events and the wonderful Parades that happen in NY City and across the U.S. etc., these local children have only seen that on TV, now they can see it in real time.

The Morse family have made this all possible.