I got a really cool gift for Christmas

Christmas is not quite here, but I already got a pretty cool gift.

As most people know, I'm Catholic. For a long time I wasn't even a good Catholic. I'd miss mass frequently, mostly because I was too lazy to get up in the morning to go to church. When I did go, I use to leave early, right after the 'our father'.

So I'm trying to be a better Catholic... I volunteer now to do readings during mass, and on other weeks, sing. It's nice because I have an obligation to go and stay the whole mass, and I'm giving back to the church because the church needs readers and singers to donate their time to mass. So I'm trying to be a more faithful Catholic.

Well I decided to do a little more this year. Most Catholic churches have 'giving trees' every Christmas Season. For the first part of Advent... the giving tree is decorated with little cards that have the gender and age of children in need of gifts for Christmas... some will tell you what are being asked for... some just say by an age appropriate gift for x amount.

I took a card for a 15 year old girl (who I bought a panda bear jewel necklace for. It was $100 but I got it on sale.) and I got one for a baby 0-6 months (who I bought a night light projector for). Then you bring the gifts to the church and they distribute them as needed.

I felt pretty good doing something nice for kids who needed something special for Christmas. However, I didn't know just how much it meant to the people receiving the gifts until today.

The second half of advent when the gifts for children has ended, the tree is refilled with cards with the names of the elderly who are home bound or in nursing homes. They ask that you send a card with a special message for the person on the card... and that you mail it, or even better, hand deliver it.

I decided it was very close to Christmas and it may not make it in the mail on time so today I decided to deliver the card to the nursing home of the elderly lady's name I picked off the tree. I also decided since I was going in person, to bring some Christmas cookies I picked up at the bakery with me, and some Christmas chocolates.

When I got to the nursing home, the lady whose name I picked was sitting in a corner all by herself in her wheelchair, hunched over staring at her feet. She looked surprised when the nurse said I was there to see her, and even more surprised to see I had cookies and a card for her.

When she saw I was there to hand deliver a Christmas greeting just for her, you could see her eyes tearing up. She took my hand and thanked me. I told her the picture card was actually a picture of my puppies, Dojo and Yoshi, that I had turned into a Christmas card, and that I hoped it would make her smile. She seemed truly grateful to know that a complete stranger would do something like that for her.

As I was leaving she told me "God bless you", and then she had the nurse help her open the card and read it to her. It felt really good to do something for someone else, but to see their reaction and just how much it meant to them that someone would go out of their way for them... that felt even better.

The reason I posted this is not to say "hey look at what a good Christian I am." Its because of that feeling I got when I saw the look of surprise and happiness on her face. I wanted to share the story and encourage everyone to do something like that this Christmas season. It's not too late, there's still 5 days till Christmas Day, so there's plenty of time to do something nice for someone who needs it.

if you're not Catholic, perhaps a Catholic church will allow you to take a card from their giving tree if there are any left... or you could go to a nursing home and ask if there is anyone living there who especially could use a little Christmas cheer... then personally deliver a card or gift to them. Donate a toy to tots, or go to a local church and drop off toys and ask if they know of any children in the area in need of gifts for Christmas.

You'll make someone else very happy... but even more so, you will be surprised how great you'll feel inside.

Merry Christmas everyone