Holidays filled with warm memories

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Updated: January 30, 2012 10:22AM

Even though winter looks much prettier when the ground is covered in snow, it sure made it easier for all the families traveling this past weekend to have dry roads — and word has it that Santa found a way to get enough traction from the snow out west to fly straight to Porter County for delivery.

Waking up on Tuesday to the beauty of the white stuff did put a smile on my face, though.

I sincerely hope that your Christmas holiday is filled with warm thoughts and happy memories. One of my favorite memories will be of watching (and eavesdropping) on two little girls and their mom while shopping for toys.

The toys were not for themselves, but for the children whose names were on the “angel tree” cards they were holding. They were having so much fun deciding what to get for others, I’m sure they learned the joy of giving. They were actually jumping up and down with the thrill of it.

How lucky they are to have a mom who is teaching them that kind of joy as youngsters. We feel so very blessed with our family, and having our youngest grandson, Justin, now a college graduate, is another prayer answered.

For his “celebration,” we went to Medieval Times, and it’s such fun to cheer and boo just like a kid again. And eating without any utensils is a special experience, too!

When Justin was “knighted,” cheers rang out through the whole lobby, as they did for the other young men who were so honored.

Whenever you can, do something fun and out of the ordinary for yourself. It revives your smile!

I remember my mom saying, “The older I get, the faster the time goes,” and that was at a time in my life that I was wishing for time to hurry up when I was anticipating something special — a vacation, a date, a birthday, and on and on.

Now, (gulp!) I feel like my mother as another year just whizzed by much too fast, and all of the things I wanted to get done are still on my to-do list, such as cleaning out the closets, emptying the attic, tossing the “stuff” in the garage.

But one resolution I try my best to keep, which I hope we all do, is to make time and take time for family and friends, and volunteer to help those in need in some way.

Just as a suggestion or two, once a month resolve to fill a grocery bag for the food pantry; volunteer for Meals on Wheels; visit someone who is homebound; read a story to little ones; volunteer to tutor kids who need extra help; call United Way and choose the volunteer activity that suits you best.

Guess who you’ll make smile. Yep, you!

I “stole” this idea from an article I read about author Debbie Macomber.

Each year on Jan. 1, she chooses one word to concentrate on every day all year.

She writes it down and posts it where she’ll see it every day, and even keeps a journal as to how that word affects her daily happenings.

The first year Macomber tried this, her word was “hunger,” and I expected to read about how she helped the hungry. Although that was a small part of it, the interesting ways in which she used it was what made me decide to make this my first year to have a one-word daily guide.

Maybe some of you can join me in trying that, and then next December, we can get together and discover how it molded our days.

Meanwhile, please have a beautiful and blessed new year filled with love.

Thanks for reading. Fly your flag.