…for an hour, take a nap.  If you want to be happy for a week, take a vacation.  If you want to be happy for a lifetime, help people.” 

Such was the sentiment sent to me from the Carper Family for the holidays.  I realized in reading this one important sentiment: In a time of decisiveness, differences of opinion that usually do not end up well, and so much division – when individuals can agree to disagree, we can get to the more important aspects of the world that matter – looking past the moments we set aside to get our points across and then move on – this is a lost art but one that paints a canvas that lasts beyond how long a grudge will last. 

I hate the facts that holidays are so built up on the material aspects and how easy it is to be caught up in those materialistic aspects, and before you or I am aware, the sentiment, emotional and nostalgia, as well as the beautiful aspects of the world beyond us – nature, conserving the nature around us, recognizing technology as a tool and not a life preserver, and basically, the things we do not often get to hold in the palm of our hands.

I am finding the best gifts I am looking for at Christmas is a way to find items that remind us of a past that help us look to make a better future.  I hope this Christmas, and the weeks leading up to the holiday, will provide an opportunity to see the future is brighter than we hear, read, and sense.  This perception of what is possible amid a world that often does not give many time to think about what is possible, is within our grasp.  The real gift I realize everyday has been the friends, colleagues, students, family, and individuals unknown to me before, but now a part of my life.  The past, present and future truly do blend if we would allow it, and if we allow it, it becomes the best possible holiday we could ever expect.  I say thank you over and over to everyone, but most individuals realize at some time they are who they are thanks to the individuals that have influenced them over the course of a lifetime.  Thank you.