We are rapidly approaching Christmas Day, and as I observe the people around me, I wonder if we have lost the Holiday Spirit. It seems crazy, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and people knocking each other down to get to the last one of this or that, or just to be first in line. Then there’s the stress of getting just the right gift, finishing the shopping, the perfect meal and decorating inside and out.

I fondly remember Christmastime of the past. Christmas decorations in department stores were never seen until the first of December and Woolworth’s five and dime, modestly decorated in red and green, offered simple gifts of candy, perfume, jewelry, socks and just about anything else you could think of. Christmas was simple, gifts that were surprises, live trees decorated with ornaments that bubbled, and bowls of nuts you cracked with a special nutcracker that looked a lot like a pair of plyers or in some houses it was a real nutcracker that looked just like a tin soldier. There was something called ribbon candy, that for the most part was thrown away a week or so after Christmas, but it was always a part of the candy and nuts offered to anyone who visited.  We ate ham that had slow cooked in Grandma’s oven all day long. We ate it along with cookies and didn’t count the calories or fat grams, we just enjoyed it. Christmas Eve brought carolers singing the traditional Christmas songs, the ones we all knew the words to and we sang along. The children would be dressed in their very best attire as they presented their Christmas program at school or at church, the whole family attended as part of the season’s tradition.

This year, bring a little “simple” to your holiday festivities. Remember that the perfect gift doesn’t really exist. It becomes perfect when given with the right heart and received in humbleness and joy. The perfect meal is one where the face across the table is happy, healthy and a part of what gives your life meaning, and the decorations are created in grade school, Sunday school or at home with paper and glue and has a printed name somewhere on the back that takes you back to a time of childhood.

Remember, we should serve others all year round. Be kind, courteous and really aware of others around you, we never know the condition of those who pass by us, or work with us or sometimes, live with us. Pay it forward.

Merry Christmas                                                                                                                                       

-Written by using life experiences from many, because it is the lives of others that truly enrich our walk on this earth.