Where are you Christmas, Why Can't I Find You? Why Have You Gone Away?
We can all get overwhelmed during the Holidays. A lot of us simply focus on gift buying, standing in lines, what to eat, where to go on vacation, all while stressing about money blowing out the window., seeing relatives, and forgetting those things at the last minute we should have remembered.
What if we could all focus more on gift giving, only buying for those in need, making gift baskets of food for the hungry, and staying home and spending quality time with our family. Embracing the Holidays, and simply enjoying the times........
Sometimes during this time of year when lost doggies are found, or someone wins on a lottery ticket, it somehow gets linked to "The Holidays" and yet these are things that happen each and every day!!!!!
With that being said sometimes things happen in this life for reasons that we simply can't explain, and we really shouldn't even try to explain. Please stop and just think about these stories of compassion and spirit, and maybe just maybe it can melt your inner Grinch as you read them.
4- The Internet Saves a Family’s Home
There are a couple of sure-fire ways of proving to the world that you don’t have a soul, one of which is to foreclose on a family’s home at Christmas. In 2008, some Grinch did exactly that to the Sampson family, probably while simultaneously kicking puppies and laughing at orphans. See, the Sampsons weren’t exactly living the high life: Dad was sick, Mom was pregnant, both were out of work, and their kids were now looking at a Christmas spent in a succession of shelters. Tired, stressed-out and miserable, the Sampsons did what any of us would do, and unburdened their worries to a friend.
In return, the friend posted their story up to her blog, perhaps hoping to spread the misery. And then an amazing thing happened. Strangers began commenting on the story and asking if they could make donations. So the friend opened a Paypal account. Then more people commented. And more, and more. Suddenly, donations were flooding in. Within five days, this one blog post had raised $11,032 – enough to save the Sampson home. In a burst of seasonal goodwill, the Internet spat in the face of holiday-hating mortgage brokers everywhere, and saved a family from the streets. And in a world characterized by hatred as much as the Internet, that’s gotta count as a miracle.
3- Car Crash Inspires No Anger
If you’re a single mom struggling to make ends meet, getting into a car crash the week before Christmas is probably the last thing you want to do. So when Kim Kerswell rear-ended Sherene Borr on her way to get some last-minute presents, she had plenty reason to curse life out, big time. Only it turned out life was dealing her an unexpected favor. Not only was Borr not angry about the damage to her car, but she was so upset to hear Kerswell might have to forego her kids’ presents in order to pay the insurance company, that she offered to step in and buy them for her.
Think about that for a second.Some people freak out if you so much as look at them the wrong way. Go smashing into their car and there’s no telling what might happen. But Borr not only didn’t get mad, she went out of her way to help this clearly stressed-out woman provide a Christmas for her kids that would have been unthinkable under normal circumstances. It just goes to show that, even in our rough-and-tumble world, people are still capable of the most heart-warming actions.
2- The World War I Christmas Truce
Speaking of incredible things, there are probably few more incredible than the Christmas truce of 1914 between the opposing sides of World War I. On Christmas Day 1914, hundreds of troops, who had spent months watching their friends die in the most horrific ways imaginable, spontaneously threw down their weapons and stopped fighting. There were no orders from above, no formal truce – just a thousand or more weary and unhappy men determined not to let this one day be as utterly miserable as all the others. All along the battlefields of France, British, German, and French troops refused to fight. Instead, they sang Christmas carols and shared food and cigarettes with one another. One British troop even started a soccer match with their German enemies, one that was marked by friendliness, courtesy, and a great deal of Christmas cheer. According to the BBC, some troops refused to begin fighting again for weeks afterwards, instead letting the truce drag on into January. In the midst of the worst slaughter mankind has ever known, these scared and frightened kids still retained enough humanity to make sure everyone – French, British and German – got the Christmas they deserved. If that isn’t a miracle, then we don’t know what is.
Now Fast Forward to December 12, 2016 -
1-Terminally Ill Five-Year-Old Boy Dies in Santa Claus’ Arms After Fulfilling Dying Wish to See Him
The Daily Mail reports Schmitt-Matzen recalled the scene at the hospital:
‘He was laying there, so weak it looked like he was ready to fall asleep,’ he said.
‘I sat down on his bed and asked, “Say, what’s this I hear about you’re gonna miss Christmas? There’s no way you can miss Christmas.’
‘Why, you’re my Number One elf!’
The little boy looked up at Schmitt-Matzen and his perfect Santa Claus beard and asked: ‘I am?’
Schmitt-Matzen assured the child that he was, and then gave him the toy.
‘He was so weak he could barely open the wrapping paper. When he saw what was inside, he flashed a big smile and laid his head back down.’
The little boy then had a big question for Santa.
‘They say I’m gonna die,’ he told Schmitt-Matzen. ‘How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?’
Schmitt-Matzen then asked the little boy to do him a ‘big favor’.
‘When you get there, you tell them you’re Santa’s Number One elf, and I know they’ll let you in,’ he told the boy.
‘They will?’ the child asked.
‘Sure!’ Schmitt-Matzen confidently replied.
The 5-year-old boy reached up and gave him a hug. A moment later, Schmitt-Matzen said the boy died in his arms. The little boy’s mother screamed, and he quickly handed him to her and ran out of the room, he said.
When I heard about this story yesterday, as it took the Internet by Storm, my thoughts went primarily on that family in Tennessee. How they will never be the same? How they now have to remember their precious 5 year old passing away during this "Holiday Season". Sometimes we take for granted so much in our lives: like our health, and homes, and what should be our happiness. Just as the good things above happen every day, we tend to link them to something Greater Because They Took Place During the Holiday Season". We simply have to " Take the Good with the Bad" Believe this: That Santa, (Schmitt-Matzen) on that Day, at that Time, took his Title, Wrapped his Arms around a scared young boy, and made sure that his final breath happened with magical thoughts!!!!
Miracles do happen every day, they happen all over. It is truly about forgetting your "Inner Grinch" and Finding "Your Magical Santa Claus".
Listen to the Song Below, Enjoy what is truly meaningful, and the rest will take care of itself.
Happy Holidays:
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