The holiday tree at Rockefeller Center is lit, albeit with energy efficient diode lights. The business districts in Queens are decorated and the sidewalk Santas are manning their kettles in malls and at major intersections throughout the borough.
As pretty as the decorations are, sadly they are also a harbinger of the dark side of the holidays. We must raise our guards as we shop for presents or provisions for our families and friends.
Pickpockets and thieves are very active this time of year. They are watching and waiting to separate you from your dollars and your presents. Stop and put down a shopping bag to look at another bargain, and you might not find your purchases - ever again. Your carefully selected presents and hard-earned dollars can disappear in a heartbeat.
If you leave your wallet near the top of your open pocketbook, it might not be there at the checkout. Wave too much cash around and you may just find a slashed pants pocket where your wallet once resided.
We want you to remember never to leave packages of any kind visible inside your vehicles parked on the street, in public lots or mall garages. Even dirty laundry packed in a retail store bag for the trip to the dry cleaner looks like a potential present for thieves to steal.
Several local precincts have warned you about pickpockets working our local stores. Caution and common sense is all that separates you from becoming a seasonal victim. Put your guard up as you celebrate the season.
Help us to help Santa
Every season hundreds of boys and girls write letters addressed to Santa Claus at the North Pole. Due to bad weather and blizzards, not every letter to Santa can be delivered to its destination before December 25.
The Queens Courier in conjunction with the United States Postal Service will be printing some of the letters written to Santa from Queens children. We will print the text of the letters and the requests there within, but we must withhold the children’s last names and addresses.
Please pitch in and make this a holiday to remember for a little boy and girl. Just come to our editorial offices at 38-15 Bell Boulevard, Bayside, take a letter or two, and fill the request it contains. Then bring us the presents, all wrapped, by Thursday, December 20 and we will make sure the children receive them. If we receive any extra toys, clothing items or gifts, unwrapped, we will donate them to the St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital in Bayside. Help a child’s Christmas wish to come true.
