It's Not About the Decorations

Growing up, a neighbor would have Christmas tree lights, a tree, decorations, and a Christmas card all ready to go the day after Thanksgiving. 

It’s not about the decorations.

When I was old enough to send my own Christmas cards, about six years ago, I strived to have the same “urgency” with spreading my holiday cheer. After all, professionally, I am a broadcast journalist. Everything is deadline driven.

So, here I am on the fifth day of December and I don’t have the budget for Christmas cards, Christmas gifts, or anything else that spreads holiday cheer. As much as I’d love to spend tomorrow evening after work sipping some hot chocolate and writing in the Christmas cards I had bought weeks ago, I won’t be. 

Somewhere between who I once was and who I might have been, I realized that Christmas isn’t about the decorations, or the holiday cards, or all the gifts you think you have to buy. What gift are you giving if you end up in debt? It helps no one. 

You might be asking, so, what is the season about?

For me, this year, it’s about loving, and really living, and demonstrating gratitude of tremendous proportion. It’s gratitude extending from the Thanksgiving holiday, that I am afforded the possibility to give, even if it means giving up something else to do it. 

To borrow a line from the song from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Faith Hill sings in “Where Are You Christmas:” 

“If there is love in your heart and your mind, you will feel like Christmas all the time.” 

A Call to Action Requires Rest

A Call to Action

Step 1: Get out of bed.

Step 2: Eat. Breakfast.

Step 3: Do something. 

It’s hard to get motivated when you’re not feeling well, whether it’s because you’re fighting a cold or you’re just feeling down on your luck.

Well, friends, today is proof that the important thing is that you just do something. I’m pretty exhausted, let me tell you. I have one week left of class until winter break and even though I have three papers to write and several documents to read, all I really wanted or felt like doing was nap. 

Did you ever read the book “The Napping House” by Don and Audrey Wood? If you haven’t, you should. It’s the place where “everybody is sleeping.” I delighted in the joy of that book. Naps are something that are genuinely healthy. I always wondered why we started our lives napping and ended our lives napping. I think I figured it out. It’s because we spend so much of the middle parts of our lives running around and doing something that we have to rest prior to that part of our lives and after. 

Despite what you think, this blog is not about taking a nap, although I do believe we should find some time in our lives for a little rest here and there. Why? Because we’re all going to do something. I choose to make rest a part of my life so that I can be active throughout it. 

Today there is a call to action beyond the daily grind of work, dealing with the kids, making dinner, running errands, or paying the bills. The call to action is to do something greater than all that. 

Be. 

Be inspired to do something for someone else just because you can. Be compelled to volunteer or donate your time just because you can. This is part of getting the frump out of your rump. 

The first part of my project is getting involved with Embrace Global. It is a 501c3 organization that provides infant warmers for the developing world. You don’t have to donate money, you can donate your time. When babies face hypothermia and there is no one there to hold them, and there’s no electricity to assist in the process, they can die. 450 babies die each hour. When you hug your baby, think about hugging them too.

What’s your call to action?