The Spirit of Christmas

There are so many things about the holiday season that make it special for me.  I enjoy watching the snow fall when it's dark and quiet outside.  I love the smell of Christmas trees. I love spending time with my family (this statement subject to revocation). Lastly, I especially love working retail during Christmas! Helping people find the perfect present for their family/friend/people from work they don't really know is my specialty!  Also, I think it's the son of God's birthday or something...

Yes, Balthasar; for the 1000th time, I'm sure the Jesus likes frankincense. 

A couple of weeks ago, an older woman came into the store with two tags from the mall's giving tree.  After an incomprehensible amount of time shopping, a lot of hand gesturing (English wasn't her first language), and a handful of gift receipts, we'd picked out the perfect gifts for the tags she'd taken off of the tree.  She had particular pride in one shirt she'd chosen for the 13 year old girl, and was excited to take them back to the donation spot. 

 This week at work, a woman came into the store with a return. She laid the package on the counter, handed me three gift receipts and asked how much money she had to work with.  I told her the amounts, handed her back the receipts, and told her I'd hold her return up on the counter while she looked around.  I helped her find some things in her size and and returned to the back of the store while she continued to shop.   Once at the register again, I opened the bag and stopped short.  

This woman was returning the giving tree gift I'd helped the older woman pick out only a couple weeks before, only she was returning clothes presumably meant for her daughter and using the money to buy clothes for herself.  I looked up at her browsing around the store and my stomach turned.  How could someone return a gift meant to make a needy child's Christmas bright, and turn around and purchase something for them-self instead?

I was so upset I didn't know what to do. All my Christmas cheer and faith in humanity pretty much flew out the chimney.  I always participate in my community's giving tree programs, and the thought of someone abusing such a worthwhile cause for their own gain made me sick. Did she really have a daughter who needed this gift, or did she not have any children at all and was running some sort of racket?  Either way, my heart shrunk two sizes too small and I made a commitment to never participate in any sort of anonymous giving program again....how could I after seeing what the people are really doing with the generosity of strangers?  This woman had taken any Christmas spirit I had, stomped on it, shredded it, and used it for lining in her bird cage.  

Real life x-ray of my heart; post Christmas Scheist Scheme. 

I drove home that evening, fuming about the whole situation.  The Christmas songs playing in the car made me want to put my fist through the radio.   I finally got home, changed my clothes and decided to go for a walk to blow off some steam.  As I walked through the neighborhood, even the Christmas lights, which I normally love, just pissed me off.  

It wasn't until I walked into Safeway to grab a drink that something began to chip at the ice surrounding my teeny-tiny heart.  There was an old lady counting out change at the counter for some milk and other oddities, and after emptying her purse and pockets, she was $2.12 cents short.  I could tell the clerk was getting upset with her, and he suggested she put something back.  Before I really knew what I was doing, I stepped forward and offered to pay for what she couldn't cover.  When I looked at her, it was the old woman whom I'd helped buy gifts for the giving tree at the mall two weeks prior...the gifts that afternoon which someone tried to return to buy something for them-self.  Here it was, just a little before Christmas and the woman who'd been so generous with the giving tree, couldn't afford to buy all of her groceries.

The woman thanked me profusely, wished me a broken "Merry Christmas" and left. 

I walked home that evening with a lot on my mind and even more on my heart.  That woman's generosity with the giving tree meant even more now that I knew her circumstances.  As I meandered though the neighborhood, I noticed trees sparkling in windows, lights twinkling outside and watched my breath freeze in the cool winter air.  As my heart warmed, I realized that Christmas was so much bigger than the pettiness of  a select few, greedy souls.  A holiday where people can open their hearts to family and strangers alike, regardless of whether they receive recognition for doing so, is so profound it takes my breath away.  I think it can be easy us to let situations like mine at the mall bog us down, but life and man-kind is really never so bad off that bad people outnumber the good-hearted ones.

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family! May this holiday season fill your heart with Christmas spirit, and your bellies with Christmas spirits :)

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas."
Calvin Coolidge 

My First Time

I don't know why I did it.

Maybe it was because I'm a single girl in a small town. Maybe it was because I have too much time on my hands. Maybe it was because all my friends were doing it. Maybe it was because I heard lots of other people were doing it and I thought I could do it better. Maybe it was because I had too much to drink. Maybe it was because I didn't have enough to drink. I don't know why I did it, but I started my own blog.

Lets be honest...it was probably the alcohol.

So this is my first time posting my very first blog...thanks for being here to share it with me. I should probably start things out by telling you all a little about myself; I grew up on a farm. I hate mushrooms. I'm scared of birds. I was foreign language student of the year in high school. I spend more than an acceptable amount of my income on clothes. I'm a Gemini. I grew up on a steady diet of home canned goods and self deprecating humor. My couch is red. I like my men tall and my coffee iced. I'm always right. I talk to my dog...a lot. I have a dimple when I smile. I'm extremely near-sighted. I'm good at sharing. I love merry-go-rounds.

There...that should be a good start. My overall idea for this blog is to be a panegyric to everything I like, hate and everything in between. From cooking, to annoyances, style tips, general life experiences, etc...If this sounds interesting to you, subscribe today and recommend 5 five friends to do so or RISK BAD LUCK FOR ALL ETERNITY. That's right, eternity. Or you can read it and not recommend any friends, but don't come crying to me if you leave your house and an anvil falls on your head...because you were warned.