In Santa that is. No, I don’t believe that a man comes through my non-existent chimney and leaves gifts for the children. But, I do believe in the Spirit of Santa. To me, Santa goes hand in hand with the true meaning of Christmas. The reason for the Season. The Birthday.
Jesus is the reason we are celebrating this holiday and we make sure that the children know this. But, yes there is another reason for this holiday. The Spirit of giving. Saying thank you to others and doing things for others because we can and want to. I actually wrote about this two years ago, when my nephew was first told that there was no Santa. It breaks my heart that other children don’t get the chance to believe. There is something special about not really knowing but knowing. Even though I grew up knowing there was no Santa, my older Sister and I always thought my parents were wrong and secretly believed. I remember how special that was to us, wondering if Santa was out there on the rooftops making deliveries.
How could you not believe in this guy, look at that smile. He and J were having a great chat while I was taking some shots. Apple really wanted nothing to do with it, but J spoke for her.
This year, for the first time I decided not to buy the shots from the photo lab at the mall, but just bring my own camera. I have brought it before, but always bought a package anyway. Well, not this year. I would have never got these great shots without the few minutes we had by ourselves.
Thank you Santa, you truly are an inspiration.
Not something I talk about here, at all really, but once a week I help out some friends of my Dad’s. They are a Brother and Sister who are on the elderly side. I am sure they didn’t plan on spending their latter years hanging out with each other day after day, let alone sharing a house, but such are things that this is the way it worked out for them. They were both married and have lost their spouses. The Sister had two sons and lost them as well. So now, they have each other.
Once a week I go over and do the general cleaning, pass a vacuum, clean the bathrooms, a little laundry. My Dad and my Sister also take turns and do what is needed to keep them in their house. Which is amazing, that they still live in their house.
A few weeks ago we got to talking about Christmas decorations and how there were some in the basement and wouldn’t it be lovely to put up the tree this year.
Last week, I grabbed my littlest helper and headed over to decorate their tree.
I’m not going to say she was the most help, but it was nice to have a little girl running around their house. She certainly brightened up their day.
In the basement I found boxes and boxes of these totally retro decorations.
I only used about 1/8th of the decorations they had, but it did the trick and a tree was born.
Not bad for a busy Mom, a little girl and some antique decorations.
Please head over to my Photography Blog for a wonderful Christmas Giveaway. This is a chance to pay it forward to someone you know, who could really use a boost this Holiday Season.
