Here we are just 18 days short of the Christmas holiday. WHAT? Where did time go? For a lot of people, Christmas comes up as a surprise. Like they did not know it was going to happen this year. I want you to know that I do understand.
As a child, I had great Christmases for the most part. My parents would make plans for the Christmas season. Because there were no close relatives, our lives were devoted to those in our family and close neighbors. Present making, baking, caroling and neighborhood gatherings were all part of my childhood.
As I grew older, I lost my Santa Claus. It was one of the more traumatic times in my life. Holidays were also tough because my father suffered from what we would now call PTSD, though in those days it was called combat fatigue. All his losses, all his pain would be buried in alcohol. He would look at his purple hearts and bemoan the fact that he lived while so many others had died.
The Christmas season was often bittersweet.
At some point, my parents went through a divorce during my teens and Christmas only brought up painful memories. I hated it. I would do everything to avoid the conversation, the festivities, and the joy. I was like that for years.
One day, I could not bear the idea of no Christmas. I drove to all the closed Christmas tree lots and finally found one tree that was left. A Charlie Brown tree. And I brought it home.
That tree was the beginning of my falling back in love with Christmas.
I love Christmas so much, that in 2015 I wrote a book, Christmas, Can You Wait.
A couple of days before Thanksgiving I put up my tree with the help of four of my grandchildren. Admittedly, there are more ornaments on the bottom half than the top half. But with the help of hot chocolate and snacks, it got done and looks beautiful.
I think one of the greatest things I was to discover was the power of gratitude and gratefulness. I began to understand that my mom taking homemade bread to elderly neighbors or laboring over Christmas cards was because in so many areas she was grateful. It was more than a tradition.
I have friends that are not in great places. Some of them are having Christmas with an empty chair that once sat a loved one.
This year my wife and I will be doing things to help those who are not as well off as we are. Because I want to do more, I am doing a couple of things to help others. If you are interested in helping, please read on.
- For every purchase of my hardcover book, Christmas, Can You Wait, I am going to donate $3 to our local homeless shelter here in Keene.
- (Each week our fellowship provides lunch for 80-90 homeless folks. If you prefer to donate to that I will see that the money goes to the shelter providing for Christmas.)
- I am going to donate 25% of all merchandise sales gifts to help children in need this Christmas. (If you want to donate, rather than purchasing merchandise, you can give directly to PN4UINC, a 501(c) 3.
These are some of the ways Positive News For You and myself are helping others.
