Christmas reflection

I'm a sucker for Christmas. I've acquired a kind of permanent nostalgia from a lifetime of family gatherings, gifts, and television specials that nearly force me to put up a tree, throw a party, and give gifts. I am the first to admit that the expectation I have from the nostalgia is waning and rarely if ever allows the actual Christmas experience to meet the bar set for it, which sucks. However, I feel that the holiday always justifies itself in other ways. On Christmas day, my parents and I dropped off a gift to my grandfather's neighbor, V (just a first initial for privacy sake). He had helped our family cut wood this fall and had worn a flannel jacket with the front nearly torn off completely. So, I bothered my family that we should get him a new fall coat (an innocuously priced gift in my opinion). We did. V opened his gift and I make no exaggeration when I say he had tears in his eyes upon opening and trying the coat on. I began to have that Christmas feeling settle in at that point. I doubt V really needed a new jacket, or even wanted a new jacket. What he did need was to know that he had friends. He had people who cared about him. He lives alone. His family couldn't make it to Christmas that day due to the weather. I imagine that friends aren't an easy commodity for someone like him. So when we come on Christmas day and take time out of our day to let him know that we care, it means a lot.

We all want that feeling. I may give gifts and throw parties for that reason. I want people to know that I give a shit about them and that's difficult when the rest of the year you are already calling them and spending time with them. So I take it up a notch (bam!), because I don't really know how else to let people know that. I don't see me changing in the near future, but something to think about.