“Saying someone can’t be sad because someone may have it worse is just like saying someone can’t be happy because someone else might have it better.”
It’s Christmas Eve and there are a lot of sad people out there. There is one in particular, I hope you’re okay.
I am so happy to be home for Christmas.
It snowed today, just enough to cover everything but not enough to really mess stuff up. It’s truly lovely.
My sister got us tickets to see The Nutcracker, even better? We got to go backstage afterwards. I held The Nutcracker and hugged the Sugarplum Fairy, which basically means the eight year old in me was able to live out a giant gingerbread scented dream.
I found myself thinking “Don’t enjoy yourself too much, not everyone is having this much fun on Christmas.”
Not everyone is going to wake up in a warm house with their family tomorrow morning.
I could easily continue thinking about what I have that others don’t and bum myself right out before I even go to bed, worrying about people I don’t know and people I can’t help.
But that’s what I do, I worry about people. I wonder if I could be helping someone more, if I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, if I’m fulfilling my part. The good part is that I feel like I am. I’ve tried to help the people I can help. I could do more, we could all do more. But I’m doing something, that’s what matters.
As we drove to our traditional Christmas Eve dinner tonight I tossed Cody out on a street corner to help a woman in a wheelchair who was stuck in a snowbank. Rather than simply helping her across the street he pushed her five blocks back to her home.
Have you heard about 26 Acts of Kindness? I hate the idea of keeping count, but I understand that’s how some people work. It really only takes one random act of kindness to convert you to the idea of going out of your way to help someone else. Pay it forward. Do unto others.
Kindness is a magnificent trait to posses. “Promote what you love rather than bashing what you hate.”
I love the ballet, I love Christmas, I love my family, I love sleeping babies, I love warm cookies, I love falling asleep in Cody’s arms, I love Sting’s ‘I Saw Three Ships’, I love when I feel like I’m helping people, I love laughing so hard I stop breathing, I love cats, I love twinkling lights, I love Disney movies, I love blue skies, I love donuts with sprinkles, I love hot chocolate with whipped cream, I love naps, I love hugging people, I love being so overwhelmed with happiness I can do nothing but cry, I love really nice headphones, and really comfortable pajamas.
There are so many wonderful tiny little things around us everyday. “The happiest people do not have the best of everything, they make the best of everything they have.”
Those people up there? They’re the very best part of being me.
Merry Christmas. xo