I have noticed Christmas decorations in department stores at the same time I noticed candy at the supermarket to give to trick or treaters at Halloween. Pumpkins, both real ones and ones in paintings, in the stores remind me of Thanksgiving, that day set aside for when we are to give thanks, when I will eat pumpkin pie, a favorite part of a Thanksgiving menu. Before Thanksgiving I see neighborhoods with yard decorations of Santa, snowmen, and Christmas trees and houses with lights strung around the roof and walkways.
Before Thanksgiving I noticed boxes with instructions for giving children toys according to what age of child would like a certain toy. Give to the needy who often do not have what other people have. This is the season of giving. Give cans of food to people who have little to eat.
I often wonder if this season of giving does all that it is intended to do. Do we lift people up by the things we do at this time of year? Do the people to whom we give food have a refrigerator to store the leftovers? Do they have a knife to cut up a ham or a turkey they have received?
I wonder if people think that by doing what is exhorted to do at the holidays that these needy people are helped.
What happens to these people in need after the holidays? What about giving at other times of year? Isn’t that important, too?!
When thinking about resolutions for the new year, I think of cleaning out closets. Sort the clothes you wear for special occasions and what you wear for your current lifestyle. What about the shoes you bought at full price which don’t go with your outfits? The donated clothes you give to charity might help someone more than you know. The swimsuit you bought for a cruise that was canceled might be perfect for someone your same size who loves to swim.
Do you drive? Do you have it on your license that you are an organ donor? One donor can save as many as eight lives and a single tissue donor can heal as many as 75 lives. Many people die waiting for a transplant.
There are buses in shopping areas around town that would like people to donate blood. Are you a young adult who is reasonably healthy? The pint of blood you donate just might help someone who has been in a serious accident or needing surgery. Blood is needed all year round and not just during the winter holidays, so maybe it would be a good idea for you to put it on your calendar during your birthday month to donate blood each year.
So send the holiday cards and put a toy in the box you think a child would enjoy. Enjoy the holiday meals and festivities that occur at this time of year. Eat the pumpkin pie and drink the eggnog.
Do you go on a trip each summer? Send a postcard from your trip to your aging friend who has been in and out of hospitals the previous eight months. It just might make her day.
Melissa Mishoe lives in Winter Park.
