Many years ago, we had a storyteller in the VW community. You may have  
heard of him. Bob Hoover (no, not the airplane guy. The other one.)  
Bob could really spin a tale.  He also was reasonably knowledgeable in  
things mechanical. If you are inclined, you can read a bunch of his  
stuff here:

<http://bobhooversblog.blogspot.com/>

Every December for over a decade, I would write Bob and ask his  
permission to repost the following. It got to the point where he would  
send permission before I remembered that it was time to ask.  (Really,  
the asking was just a chance to catch up a bit. Bob lived in the part  
of the world that I call "home" and we'd been chatting with one  
another since he got stuck in the north country one Fall.) We lost Bob  
to multiple myeloma a couple of years ago. I can�t ask anymore.  I  
miss that.

I never had his permission to publish it anywhere but on the  
WetWesties mailing list, but I don�t think Bob would mind that I  
pointed you to his blog.

Go read the story.  Read it aloud to your kids.  They WILL remember.

A Xmas Gift from Bob Hoover:

<http://bobhooversblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/midnight-repairs.html>

(originally published December 26, 1998 on the vintagebus list.)

Thanks Bob.

Merry Christmas my friends.