HO HO HOLIDAY CHEER!

Welcome back to SOLO at SIXTY!

Let’s recap a couple of things you have learned about me from my blog: I am a sucker for a good Hallmark movie and summer is my favorite season. And anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Christmas – the decorations, the Christmas Sweaters, the heavenly aroma of a fresh frasir fir tree, the Christmas lights that sparkle at night, the way life works out perfectly – wait, that only happens in a Hallmark Christmas movie. Good thing that Hallmark is celebrating CHRISTMAS IN JULY this week on the Hallmark Movie Channel and next week on the Hallmark Channel. Set those DVRs people! Yes, I’m in holiday heaven for 2 weeks! (Actually I am writing this as I sit on my back porch watching “Sound of Christmas.”) Oh and the Christmas music… ahhhh… I LOVE Christmas music. Ask my kids, come November 1st, it’s nothing but Carpenter Christmas in my CD player. Luckily, they don’t know it’s actually more like August 1st (or July to celebrate CHRISTMAS IN JULY)!

In the spirit of Christmas, I love to decorate – usually right after Thanksgiving (if not before!). I have 26 bins of Christmas decorations. This past Christmas I started thinking… a new house and a new life needed new decorations. I did not want to use the same ones I used in the past – that past was HISTORY. For the first time in 36 years, I spent Thanksgiving at the beach with my family and bought some beautiful new decorations at a wonderful shop in Murrells Inlet, Tweaked. (I love this store!) But first I had a problem… how to get my tree? This girl could not put a Christmas tree on top of her car, get it off and into the house SOLO… what to do? My son-in-law’s dear grandfather lives near me. He has a truck. So I called him and said, “Hey I need help getting my Christmas tree.” He responded, “Ok when do you want to get it and where?” I replied, “Well, how about now at Whole Foods. They plant a tree for every one they sell.” He said he would meet me there. Now, the funny part of this story is that he had no idea who he was meeting as I never said who I was and he never asked! Talk about Christmas Spirit! He was standing there at Whole Foods looking for a lady who needed help with a tree as I walked up. He greeted me warmly, helped me pick out a great tree (a frasir fir), loaded it in his truck, took it to my house, and put it in my new tree stand. What holiday cheer he shared with me. Little did I know then that he was surprised to see ME! He did not tell me this story until a month later. He is kind, in a wonderfully big way. My son-in-law comes from good people. My daughter is blessed. (As am I.)

“Being kind is more important than being right.”

The Christmas spirit brings out kindness in everyone. Just look at all the bell ringers for the Salvation Army. I have rung that bell many Christmases with my co-workers. And what about all the Angel Trees? And food drives? And family sponsorships? And what about those wonderful angels who anonymously pay off Christmas Layaways for families? Kindness… holiday cheer.

You never know what the person next to you is going through. Do they need a little “holiday cheer”? Look at me. Last year, few people knew that my life, as I had known it, had just imploded. I put a smile on my face and tried to get through each day. I searched for that “holiday cheer”. I consider myself a positive person. And a happy person. But it was hard to smile then. Yet so many people were so very kind to me – they showed me “holiday cheer”. Recently I was having a rare “down” day –  I have them every now and then, much less these days though. Unexpectedly, a co-worker said to me “Lester, you ok today?” (yes they call me Lester at work – don’t ask!) I thought I was hiding it pretty well. Guess not. But just the fact that he noticed I wasn’t myself and asked, put some “holiday cheer” in my day. The following day I was back to my positive self, smiling at everyone I passed running in the morning, looking for smiles in return.

“One kind word can change someone’s whole day.”

How true is this? Maybe you are the only person to speak kindly to someone all day. To share some “holiday cheer.” What a difference this can make in that person’s outlook. I encourage my children to perform a random act of kindness every day. It does not have to be anything major – hold the door open for someone, pay a compliment to someone who needs it, make a cup of coffee for a coworker, take someone’s newspaper to their door, share a smile. It can be small or large.

“The happiest of people don’t have everything they ever wanted in this life, they just make the most of everything that this life has given them. The happiest of people have known hurt, they have felt pain, they have cried so many tears, they never gave up, despite the knocks and they are always trying to make things a little bit better. The happiest of people truly understand that the sad times never last and that the good times will always last longer and will always be the ones worth remembering.” (Dave Hodges)

What if we shared some “holiday cheer”, not just in December, but all year long. Think how wonderful life would be if each one of us performed one random act of kindness every day. Think how happy our family circle would be… our friend circle… our neighbor circle… our work circle… our community circle… our world.

So go out today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and share some “holiday cheer”.  Perform one random act of kindness, even it if is just sharing a smile with someone. See what a difference it will make, not only in their day, but in YOURS.

Happy CHRISTMAS IN JULY y’all!  Only 165 days until we celebrate Christmas. There’s an app for that!

See you next week,

Best,

Leslie