I’m grateful that the holiday season has begun. It always lifts my spirits. Having just come through a blue period makes greeting the Christmas Season a welcome activity. I’m someone who truly loves the holidays. I love the lights on the houses, the decorations within, the music playing in the stores and on the radio. Even the shopping and the sending of cards is fun for me too.
I have many childhood memories of Christmas with my grandparents, and all the aunts and uncles and cousins that still bring smiles to me too, one in particular is the memory of my granddad at the end of the gift exchange, handing an envelope with a crisp one dollar bill in it to every child that was present. Wow. That was special, indeed.
No doubt I love decorating my home because I savor so many great memories of Christmas in my youth. But I also love doing what I can to make Christmas a special day for others too. As a child I never had to face a Christmas without a tree and a few gifts. So many families these days aren’t so fortunate. Making sure we do something for others is the best gift we can give ourselves. And the opportunities are every where. I think making a list of just a few of the ways we can help others have a better Christmas is a good activity.
At every grocery in probably every town shoppers have the opportunity to give to Toys for Tots and the Harry Chapin food bank. Many churches have giving trees as does the Perkins Restaurant chain. And some churches offer opportunities too where you can support a whole family or individual children who might be overlooked otherwise. The Salvation Army has been making the holidays better for families for decades and the bell ringers stand outside many stores in most strip malls.
Giving time as a visitor in nursing homes is another way to let people know they have not been forgotten. The gift of a few minutes offered to someone who is lonely is better than any material gift. The ways to make a difference in someone’s life are as many and as varied as there are people willing to do it. And every time you reach out in some way to some one else your own heart is lifted too. What we give away, in whatever form it takes, comes back to us. Have you made a plan for what you might do for someone else this holiday?
