Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf

“Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.”

“Silent Night” is one of my favorite songs during the Christmas season. It is beautiful and and it resonates what we hope is calm for the season.

We start to see Christmas decorations in the stores in September. We bemoan that fact that we almost forget about Thanksgiving. Perhaps the retailers know that people long for the peace and beauty and celebration in their hearts that come with Christmas.

When we are kids we wait for Santa Claus and enjoy special Christmas things that happen for the youth. As adults we go to Christmas parties and shop till we drop. Everywhere you look there is reminder of the magical season of Christmas.

The Christmas season is also a hard time for people depending on what has happened in their lives during the year or the circumstances they find themselves in financially.

Perhaps someone you love has died. Perhaps someone you love is going through a divorce. Perhaps someone you love is facing a difficult illness. Perhaps someone you love is spending Christmas away from their families. We all know that someone.

The homeless shelters are full and the food shelves are busier with an increase in families every month. In this Christmas season, as we celebrate, we still have the hungry and the homeless, the sick and those who have lost hope.

During the Christmas season we wrap ourselves in the feel good glitter and songs of Christmas because in our hearts we want — as the old song “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day,” reiterates: peace on earth, good will toward men.

We want it in the in the midst of the bad news of our lives. The glitz and the glitter and the music may give it to us for a season. Perhaps that is why we rush the season: We want that feeling.

We give gifts at Christmas because it feels good to give.

There are gifts to give that have no monetary value. Give someone the gift of your time. Take time to listen to an older person. Take time to put a smile on the face of a younger person.  If you don’t know what to say if someone is hurting, don’t say anything; just sit with them, cry with them, be their friend.

Volunteer to be a bell ringer for the Salvation Army or help serve a meal at a free community dinner. Help decorate someone’s house that can’t do it themselves this year so they can feel the merry in the Christmas.

If you have a few pennies to spend when you are out and about and doing your Christmas shopping, grab a bag that most groceries stores have by the check out for your local food shelf. Take a name from Toys for Tots. Buy a Christmas tree for someone that can’t afford it. Look around and help put the peace in someone’s Christmas.

I love to give gifts also to my friends and family but my budget is limited. I love hearing from all my friends and family in the Christmas cards they send. Like many people, I am stressed about having the time to send out Christmas cards this year, so I decided I am going to space the cards through the year to keep in touch, more of an “I want to” than an “I have to.”

So, if you are reading this and you are one of the family and friends who gets a card from me, expect one sometime this year, but please still send me yours unless you want to adopt my plan.

I am going to simplify my Christmas shopping this year and give the gift of books. Before you accuse me of promoting my books, I am going to give my friends and family books by other authors. So if you are in my family, I guess the only surprise you will have when you open your gift this year is not knowing what book you are receiving. Except the kids cause Santa will leave their gifts.

I might decorate a basket and add to the book a personalized mug and coffee, tea or hot cocoa along with some other little goodies. They can curl up on a cold day with a warm drink, snacks and a good book.

Kids don’t read as much, at least my grandchildren don’t. Many adults and kids have the Kindle or an e-reader. I love my Kindle but I love the smell and feel of holding a book and I  want the younger generation to know the love and feel of books. I believe if you can read and write, you can do anything. The best gifts are those that transport me out of the real world and into the pages of an author’s vision.

I hope to pass that feeling on to others this holiday season.

However you choose to spend the weeks leading up to Christmas Day I wish you the peace and joy of experiencing the season through the eyes of a child. If you are experiencing sadness, I wish you moments of joy and laughter through the tears so that you too may experience the magic of the season.

 

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net. Her Facebook page is www.facebook.com/sprinklednotes.