No Bah Humbug for me this year!

As I reflect on 2012, I have come to realize something.  Something special, special about me.  Now, I don't mean to brag, but i do want to share the past year of my life with you and I promise I will keep it short.

We always hear around this time of the year that the holidays mean more than just gift giving.  Tell me what child wants to wake up on Christmas morning and have no presents under the tree being told that the holiday is meant to be spent with loved ones and that's going to be your present this year.  That child would  be heart broken.  Their faith and belief in something great would be crushed.  They would wonder why Santa Clause forgot about them.  I sit and think about this scenario every year and wonder how I can help.  Then I realize that I can't help because I have my own kids to please on Christmas morning.  Money is always tight and in my family December seems to bring on surprise expenses that have to be addressed just draining the bank account even more.  Somehow though, we always seem to make it work and everyone is happy.

Now for the point of this post.  I have recently opened my house to my small niece who was going to become a ward of the state if she had no where to go.  I love this little girl as my own and I had no second thought of welcoming her into our home.  As I have sit and watched her and my other children play I have realized something.  This little girl has never had a true Christmas in her short life.  Her birthday is also in December and ahe has never had a real party with  presents and cake and ice cream and all eyes on her for a day.  This saddens me more everytime I think about it.  As soon as I am feeling bad for her I get a feeling of joy come over me.  It hit me that I get to finally help during the holiday.  I get to be that one person that gives this little girl what she deserves.  I get to start restoring her faith and belief in  what a 5 year old should believe in.  Hopefully, no matter what the future might bring for her, she will never forget what I get to do for her and I will forever be in her heart.

It's a wonderful, joyous feeling to give hope back to a child once it has started to go away,

and this, my friends, is worth bragging about.