My life has been so crazy busy lately. I am still desperately trying to figure out what happened to the month of October. I know my vacation wiped out a week of it, but seriously where did the rest of it go? We had a few birthdays and my in-laws 50^th wedding anniversary! I also had my companies annual open house which knocks out a week with the final preparations! But I still can’t believe the month is gone and how exhausting it was while it was here. Now it is time to move on to Thanksgiving and all the planning that goes into that and you might as well throw Christmas into the same hat because one piggy backs onto the other!

I love the holidays! I love the festivities, the cheerfulness, the giving, the decorations and the time spent with the people you love. If you dread the holidays, I think it is a time that you take a step back and remember them for what they should be… time spent together! I think all too often we get lost in finding everyone the perfect gift… we need to remember that it is about getting friendship and fellowship. Don’t get lost in making sure that everyone on your list has the latest and greatest fad… make it about togetherness. It can include baking, games, movies, etc. Whatever your heart desires. But enjoy it!!! That is what the holiday season is about!

One thing I love to do is find a needy family to sponsor for Christmas. It is the greatest feeling in the world to know you gave these kids Christmas! And you put food on this family’s table! If you do that this holiday season it will do away with your Bah Humbug and restore the true meaning of Christmas! I have been so incredibly fortunate to work with people who value sponsoring families for Christmas! It is so incredible when you donate your time, money and goods to help someone who has fallen on hard times.

One year with my incredible co-workers from SEACON we sponsored 9 families! That included a list of some elderly. We gave them blankets, socks, or specific things that the food bank knew they needed. They were so incredibly thankful for the food. There is one lady, Ms. Mary, who I think about from time to time, even 5 years later. She gave me her entire story. How she ended up in Texas and how hard it was for her to get by. She would buy chicken and plan for every little piece to just get her by. She just broke my heart with her story. A few months later after finally saying for the last time “I need to get by and take her a gift card and a cake”, I made a point to do it. Only to find out she had fallen and broke her hip and she was in a nursing home. I wish I had made a point sooner to go see her. I don’t know why she was the one person that weighed so heavily on me after so many families (and even more after her), but she is someone I think about several times per year.

Most of all, I thank my SEACON family for always stepping up and giving more. They made those memories possible! Our “Helping Hands” got bigger every year and they pulled through, outdoing the amazing haul from the prior year!  Fast forward to my new employer (where I have been for 2+ years, does that still constitute new?!? Lol). We decided to sponsor a family for the first time and let me say I was shocked! I work with mostly men… like out of 25-ish people there are 4 women… so normally they are not that involved. But we decided to jump into a family of 9, 7 of which were kids! And they were incredible! All the employees pulled together and made this a wonderful Christmas! And the Company stepped up and did some amazing things for the family home! There is no greater feeling than to see the kids overcome with joy for Christmas when sadness is what they felt moments before with an empty tree. The cost of the gifts or the magnitude does not matter. They now have the same opportunity to go to school/daycare/etc and talk about their Christmas gifts as well. There is not a gift you will open this season that will give you such happiness as the look on their faces.

When I started writing this post… this was not what I had planned to write about. However, my posts sometimes take on a mind of their own, lol. But I do think it is something you should consider if you get the chance! It is amazing and it will brighten your Christmas like no present could.

Anyway… here is to you planning your Christmas and Thanksgiving with little to no stress. Enjoy your holiday season!!

Stay Fabulous!

Kim K.