Not the Same Old Lang Syne

One of my colleagues brought in a gigantic, freshly cut tree for the office lobby yesterday. It smells wonderful.

It made me very sad.

For the first time since my father died in 1991, I won't be spending Christmas with my mom. She's 82 years old.

But this year has not been kind. I'm frankly broke; between the games my banks have been playing with interest rates (despite the fact that I've never been so much as a day late on a single payment -- ever) and the growing stack of medical charges that weren't covered by my health insurance, I've found myself so deeply in debt that I'm starting to take stock of what I might be able to sell. I've been hunting for a more economical place to live for several months, even though I have no clue how I'll be able to come up with the deposit, never mind the time and expense involved with actually moving.

My halls won't be decked this year. Can't afford the extra load on my DWP bill for lights, and Christmas trees just get more and more expensive.

So I'm asking my friends to please, please - instead of a gift for me - donate a toy to a toy drive or a can of green beans to a food bank. Clean out your linen closet and donate the old sheets and blankets to a homeless shelter. Take your old towels to an animal shelter. If you have old coats or sweaters, why don't you put them in the trunk of your car and if you see a homeless person, why don't you stop and give them something warm and clean to wear? Take the tiny bottles of shampoo and the tiny bars of soap you've collected from hotels and give them to a battered women's shelter. Go to the 99-cent store and buy a pile of toothbrushes and bring them along for the ride.

Because no matter how hard I may have it, at least I have a good job. I have a roof over my head and I eat every day. Not being able to see my mom for Christmas is really hard ... (every Christmas I leave her house and I'm afraid it's the last time I'll see her) ... but there are so many people that have it so much worse. And I figure that God, or the Celestial Design Committee, or Mother Nature or whoever — they put billions of people here on Earth not so we can fight it out amongst ourselves, but so we can help each other.

So lets do that. Help each other. Don't help me, I'll figure everything out. Find someone who really needs it and give them a merry Christmas.