Twinkling lights and sounds of the season fill our senses early in December, my favorite time of the year as I go about my busy day. The season of giving has arrived in full force. This year is no different from ones past, the busy time of baking, shopping and filling our calendars with scheduled Christmas events. I have always seen it as a magical time… I just love everything about it.

There are so many lists to make, gifts to buy and cards to be mailed, it is all a part of the month of December. The time seems to fly and we get really busy, often times a little too busy.

The first reminder that it is the season of giving, is that of the bell-ringer with the Salvation Army. The red kettle and the notion that a little goes a long way.  I think of it too late, but one year I will sign up for a station and appreciate it even more the following season.

There are blurs of lights as I drive at night, everything is glowing and bright, I think I enjoy the lights as much as any child perhaps. Lights of all kinds…and yes, I love the tacky decorations as well, lighting up the night, making any landscape something a bit more special.

We continue on our way enjoying every part of Christmas, entertaining friends and relatives, catching up with folks we haven’t seen in some time. Office parties are underway, a full schedule of events and our weekends are full, it’s a busy time.

I am reminded to slow down, and be more aware of the season of giving. The gifts that can’t be purchased online or in a store, the gifts that give more than their monetary value. The season of giving includes our time, the offering of peace to a stranger, or an extra prayer for the person holding the cardboard signs. It is a season to give more of ourselves than we expect to receive.

Regardless if it is a small monetary gift, a tag from a giving tree, picking up a few extra gifts for Toys for Tots, or a charity of your choice? It is the season of giving, a great opportunity to give of ourselves. What if for just this year we offered more grace and more compassion to those on our journey. December passes much too quickly, and so does the feeling of hope that it brings, here’s to finding a way to make it last much longer through the upcoming months.