As the Holidays approach us, I – along with so many others, get into this “Holiday fever” as I like to call it. Making sure the house is decorated, making sure to attend and throw parties, buying gifts, planning out all the traveling we will be doing, and so on. … So many of us are only thinking and caring about what is happening in our personal lives. Today I was stopped dead in my tracks from the “Holiday fever” by one story I would like to share with all of you.

My uncle is a very strong, un-emotional, man. He has worked for everything he has.  He is not a bragger by any means. He is one of my heroes. Today I learned something else about this man...he is selfless. He used to hate Christmas because his parents died around Christmas and New Years. A few years ago he wanted to find a way to be able to feel real joy for the Holidays. So he thought of how to find that joy. It was not through buying himself a fancy new TV, not by getting the best items to decorate his home with, or by going to the most parties. He did something different, which he still does every year. My uncle took 6 - $100 bills and went to quite a few stores. He would go in the toy sections looking for families who looked and sounded like they could not afford much, but were at least trying to do something for their children. He would walk up to them and say  “Would $100 make your child's Christmas better and make things easier on you?”  Of course they would say, “Yes” and then he would hand them a hundred dollar bill, say “Merry Christmas” and walk away. I can only with a smile, imagine what went through those families’ minds at that moment. How their families were affected by this kind gift from a stranger. He has found that the only thing that brought back the joy of the Holidays after such trauma was a giving heart and hand.  The right kind of Holiday Spirit - to give instead of getting.