Sunday, December 19, 2010

Must Be Santa

I have a secret.

I still believe in Santa Claus. Not, necessarily as the man in the big red suit with the bowl full of jelly, but I believe that there are plenty of Santa Claus out there.

Think back to one of the Christmases that you had when you were a child. How excited you were, how the days leading up to Christmas were full of anticipation and how your heart carried so much Christmas spirit it might just burst.


As I am typing this I am watching a DVD of when I was two-years-old on Christmas. I was so excited to open my presents, and I was constantly flinging my arms around my parents to give them a warm hug because I was full of the Christmas spirit.

But, as we get older, we somehow lose this spirit. Not, to sound like Linus, but we become obsessed with the over commercialization of Christmas that we forget the real meaning.

In my almost 28 years on this beautiful planet of ours, I have learned that the "Christmas Spirit" that everyone talks about is actually love.

We buy presents for people because we love them, we send out Christmas cards to let people know they are loved and God sent His son because he loves us.

Santa Claus was brought to life from this love.

This is why I still believe in Santa Claus. His spirit is all around us.

This year, I have seen him in the form of many different people.

I saw Santa in the form of a man by the name of Dan Martin, who year after year organizes our local Toys for Tots drive. If it wasn't for him and all of his "elves" then 1,500 children in our area wouldn't have toys on Christmas.

I saw Santa in Stephanie Tomasic, the director of Overly's Country Christmas, a beautiful light display and Christmas village that collects money to donate to local charities. My family and I, along with about 4,000 other people, visited the light display last night.

Santa can also be seen in the simplest of gestures, like a woman who let me go in front of her in Target, through the person who works extra hours to buy their children presents on Christmas or a stranger who gives you a smile and wishes you a Merry Christmas.

So, Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. You better believe I will be setting out cookies and milk on Christmas Eve.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Little Things Mean a Lot

There is a book titled "The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. Inside the book, the author discusses how everyone has their own "love language." It is through this love language that they often show love or feel love. For example, for some people it is through touch, so they show their love through hugging and when they are hugged the feel the love. For others it might be through words.

For me, I think my love language is "acts of kindness." I often show my love to people by doing nice things for them or helping them out and I feel the most loved when someone does something nice for me.

I just realized this last evening.

We had just returned home from a really fun and beautiful bridal shower for one our very good friends and I was pretty tired and feeling a little hungry. After making a trip to Target on the way home, I thought grilled cheese and a little tomato soup might be the best meal to be had on the chilly and snowy evening. Knowing how tired I was, my wonderful husband said he would make the soup and sandwich for me so I could change my clothes and relax on the couch. I didn't have to beg, I didn't have to barter, he just did this because he loved me and he knew how much it would mean to me.

This isn't the first example of him doing things for me. He often gets me something to drink when we watch a movie, he does the laundry and sometimes he will make dinner and insist that I just watch TV because I make him dinner all week. (Believe me ladies, I know I am one lucky woman.)

With the holiday season, and all of the craziness that seems to creep in with the impending day of December 25 coming as fast as a bullet train, take sometime to do something nice for someone that you love. It doesn't need to be a grand gesture of you writing out I love you with Christmas Lights in the snow or even trying to pull a George Bailey and lasso the moon, but maybe just clean around the house a little, or take a little extra time in the kitchen to create something special. Just keep in mind, that little things mean a lot!