2017- We buy our first jeep from Ray CDJR. Our salesman is explaining some jeep culture, the jeep wave, etc… Me being the car junkie i am, I’m cruising Facebook looking for jeep pages, searching for what can I do to make this thing “our own”. I stumbled upon the JOTR page, hmm they do a jeep run for Toys for Tots, that could be fun maybe we’ll check that out on the future. So 2018 comes around Cindy signs us up (the Willys package) and we are good to go. I’m gonna go out and decorate! That consisted of two window antlers and red stuffed nose! So proud of myself, very Christmasy! I mean how much can you decorate a jeep then actually drive it! Day of the run we’re up early hitting the road on Rt. 12 headed to Napleton’s. I Crack my window for som air, and bye bye antler. U-turn! Ever look for an brown antler in the dark on rt.12? Not fun… I recover the antler and we are rollin. Christmas music, Dunkin, life is good. Cindy turns down the radio “🤬 I forgot the toys!” Lake Zurich Walmart here we come! So toys re-bought, antlers attached we arrive at Napleton’s not really knowing what to expect. And wow! The jeeps, and more jeeps, and more jeeps! That day, me with my antlers and little red nose felt desperately “under dressed”. These people take this decorating thing seriously. As out of place as I felt, it also seemed like a great fit or me (Christmas junkie here) the charity is top notch, cars involved (yes I know it’s not a car, just messing with you) and that warm fuzzy feeling when you’re giving is hard to beat! We’re gonna do this next year! Sorry no pics of the jeep in 2018.

2019 I’ve been basically a lurker on the JOTR page. Never commenting on anything. Year two is here we sign up, got the Willys package again! Decorate? Yeah, I’ll get around to it, how long could it take to decorate a jeep? Well with four of us about 8 hours, no biggie right? Except it was 5p.m. when we started with absolutely no plan other than it has to be bigger and better than just antlers and a red nose. (Tip #1 leave yourself plenty of time, have a plan too! Many times I’ve tried stuff that didn’t work or just looked plain bad.) So with no plan aIll I can say is thank god for 24 hour Walmart! Wally world got us three big Santa bags, a one of those lighted nets you put on your bushes. We stuff the bags with empty Amazon boxes, my help bails and goes to bed. I throw the bags up on the roof and then net over the top, now the heck is this gonna stay put? Zip ties! Lots and lots of zip ties! (Tip #2 For you little leaguers out there, when in doubt zip tie it!) It’s after midnight, I’m done! Just plug it, wait! What the heck am I gonna plug it into? Back to Walmart… (tip #3 inverters are like jeep tires, bite the bullet and buy the biggest one you can the first time you’ll wish you did. Ask me how i know) Morning arrives and off to Napleton’s we go, year two for us. We arrive earlier this year with last year’s toys that we forgot plus what bought. We get parked in the front row on the grass! Feeling special now! (I don’t know it’s totally random based on your arrival and there’s nothing special about it.) Eating some dunkin, taking it all in thinking man this is really done well, something here for everyone… I wonder how long it takes to put this thing together… Being our 2nd year there I feel a little more comfortable about being there. A little less out of place, so we wander outside and I see this jeep pulling a trailer with Santa riding a snowmobile! (I bet Mike knows who that was, I still don’t till this day.) How freaking cool is that! Ditch banging Santa! How do people come up with this stuff? (This left an impression on me) We’re still outside and then I hear it, are you freaking kidding me? A marching band? These people are nuts! Who’s at that meeting raises their hand and says, “You know what, we really need a marching band next year” Who finds that marching band? Where do you find a marching band? I loved it. I Ioved everything about it. I could feel this getting in my blood, I was hooked. I couldn’t wait till next year!

2020- A new “home” with Ray CDJR, a new route with a new destination. Oh yeah there was that covid thing too. 2020 was a challenging year for everyone, I couldn’t imagine trying to put together any type of huge gathering. I was still a lurker on Facebook, over the last year i saw pics of Todd Applegate’s jeep all lit up at night. That thing is awesome! (This was also an impression maker for me) When the word came down the run was a go, although different than year’s past. I was thrilled I wanted to do something different, something that I could build, I wanted it to be reusable, it also had to be able to be stored in the attic, and lights! They were a must! (Tip #4 think about where you are going to store this stuff, I have another awesome plan, the storing it thing keeps me from doing it.) So I really didn’t have a plan this year either. A trip to good ole Menards over Thanksgiving weekend netted me a Santa that lit up, I was most excited. Now what to do with it? I needed a better way to put stuff on the roof. And mama would have killed me if it scratched her jeep. ( Tip #5 this stuff can really tear up your jeep, some people don’t care, I’m not one of them. Think this stuff through. Stuff will flap, rub, rattle… it doesn’t take long to rub through your paint.) So I came up with the”roof box”. Some paint, mama whipped up some decals, looks pretty good! It has really worked well too! Now I’ve got this box and a new santa, what if my Rudolph from last year pulled the jeep? Heck yeah! This is gonna be cool! Santa’s on the roof, Rudolph zip tied to the bumper, (see Tip #2) we need to do the reins, and put the santa bags up there and done! Not so fast there Skippy, it looked bad, looked just like year two and that was uninspiring to me. Back to Menards, and there it was, I immediately grabbed it, animation at its finest! Santa popping out of a present… That led to more light up presents 🎁 and more lights are good! Screw in eyelets and zip ties hold it all down and we’re done, Ready for t4t 2020!

Welcome to 2020! You couldn’t leave your jeep, no after party, I wonder if the turnout would suffer? Well it sure didn’t appear that way to me, 500 jeeps? Throwing ducks at each other, our fearless leader makes an appearance and everyone’s honking there horns. It was fun when I don’t know if anyone expected it.

One of the things that has stayed with me looking back on 2020 now. While other events were being canceled everywhere Mike, April, and all of the volunteers embraced the situation, adapted it and made it all work. It was a testimonial of their dedication to Toys 4 Tots. Before 2020 it was just a “thing” we did, after 2020 I truly appreciated the day what it means, what it’s about.

2021- This was the year, I had a plan! I knew exactly what I wanted to do back in 2020 a reporter asked my wife about our flying reindeer little Rudolph zip tied (yes that’s tip#2)to our bumper. Flying reindeer! 2020 wasn’t over and I was planning next year’s already. So originally I wanted old school blow moulded reindeer, yeah no, not gonna happen. Crazy expensive! So we comprised and wire framed reindeer it is. Got my reindeer, Santa, presents… how am I going to make them fly? This one took a little bit to figure out. It had to be relatively lite, but strong. Conduit! Would it work though? My wife thought no freaking way. Challenge accepted. Trial and error. That’s what it took. Above all it had to be safe. 2nd was don’t screw up mama’s jeep! Why is there only four reindeer and not eight? Fear, that’s it. 💯 percent fear if something bad happened. I didn’t want to be the guy. “Accident caused by idiot on a toys 4 Tots run video at 10.” So four reindeer it was. Now if you ad reindeer you need longer reins. Off to Menards, grab new lights, garland, head to the checkout and my daughter points, there he was, a Bumble! They bounce ya know! Bumble now in the cart, lights, garland… Well you can’t have a Bumble, and not have Yukon Cornelius, and look there’s a Hermey!

(Tip #6 this stuff can be crazy expensive for what it is! Shop around, I scored stuff on both eBay and Amazon. Along with good ole Menards.) So we’re bolted, welded, screwed, and yep, zip tied. Road test time! It worked, it worked really well. So well that I was instantly mad because I didn’t do eight tiny reindeer instead. (Tip #7 test drive, the single most important thing. You don’t want to skip this you’ll regret it.) Well you know what the plan was for 2022. So now there is the wait. I start this process the weekend after Halloween. I love it but it gets me all excited, I turn into Buddy the elf. I’d put the tree up if they would let me. The wife and daughter call me a dork and tell me to settle down. The wait is a killer, thank god for Facebook! I can go post nonsense on the jotr page, that will burn a few hours… December arrives! While it’s jotr’s 2nd year with Ray and the Genesee theater it will be “new” again. We’re returning to normal and they did it big! Over 800 jeeps! A glorious sight. Well, I thought it was… Going into the theater was awesome. The food ,the entertainment, the experience was great! Again this is what I thought… Turns out some people let’s say didn’t enjoy the day? Was it perfect no, but it will never be perfect, somethings you just can’t control. Some of the snarky comments cut me to the bone. I took it personally and I’m just average joe participant. Mike said those comments don’t bother him, everyone is used to it. But it bothered me, it still does… (Tip # 8 if you have criticism or even suggestions, wait one week. If you still feel that way send a dm. Don’t pile on the jotr page. Alot of people worked really hard for a wonderful cause and at the same time tried to show you a good time. Don’t diminish their efforts on the same day! )

2022- This year definitely had a plan. I knew already it was going to be the last year for the Wrangler. 2023 is already planned. 😉 So eight reindeer extending 5 feet more in length and two feet in height. I also Had to have snow. Didn’t have an exact plan for that. Now making it longer wasn’t the hard part. Making it safe was. I can say the only way that thing was leaving that jeep was an accident. Spent a week pinning all the couplers a and then driller and zip tied everything. If it failed it wasn’t leaving that jeep. In case you are wondering I still had some fears about it. That was until the test drive once again that freaking stays put shockingly well. So much so the mama wants to leave in on till after Christmas. The snow machine in the end worked out well. At the dealer I thought it was a complete failure. It wouldn’t work, turns out it froze on the 4 mile drive there. Decided to try it one last time. And it started to work. Happy, happy, happy!

2022 was the most comfortable I had ever felt since the beginning. Which really isn’t saying much, while I love the attention the decorations get, I don’t want it. I hate sitting in it while people take their pics. I’d rather be out watching them. The smiles make it all worth it. That jeep gets all the smiles per gallon right now.

(Tip #9 there is no right way to decorate your jeep. Be creative, you don’t have to be the biggest, most expensive, the most anything. Just do you! This crazy nonsense started with window antlers and a stuffed nose. Build on what you have, make that plan and did I mention zip ties? You might want to get some zip ties…)

(Tip # 10 only because who would end with 9 tips! Every year after the t4t run the energy is high among participants. “We need to do another event.” Posting pics of the day, you can see how everyone is jacked. Well jotr is more than just the first Sunday in December. There are other events. Check in on the page, watch for something coming up! Toppless day, The 4th of july parade,which we did for the first time last year. You better be quick though! It’s really limited. But man is it fun! There was the St Judes run with Mr. Crackerpants. I never remember the ducks name… So bring that energy and enthusiasm through out the year!)

Happy 10th Anniversary jotr nation! Looking forward to your 20th!