I’m going to be brutally honest with y’all.
I haven’t been motivated to decorate for the holidays this year.
I’m not sure why.
I’m not sure if it’s because it’s 65 and sunny outside, when it’s usually chilly this time of year.
I’m not sure if it’s that we’ve had so much going on lately, it’s nice to have the house clean and uncluttered.
I’m not sure if it’s that there seems to be a general overtone of people not being nice to each other lately, which has been really getting to me and seems downright un-Christmasy.
I honestly don’t know.
And then, it happened.
Today I was at the market, standing at the deli case, waiting for my cold cuts. I go to the market twice a week (at least) and get cold cuts. And I’m constantly baffled by the people who walk up to the nice people who work there and say, “Give me X.” or “I need X.”
What happened to “please” and “thank you”? Those words apply to everyone, perhaps most especially to the nice people behind the counter who slice turkey all day.
So today, I’m there, and I notice a woman sort of behind me and off to the side. I step back and say, “I’m sorry. Am I in your way? I’ve been helped already.”
She smiles and says, “Honey, you are not in anyone’s way. God put us all here on this earth so we all belong here, wherever we stand. Also, you look beautiful – I love your haircut.”
Then she proceeded to tell me about how she’s a hospice nurse and she just took care of her 67-year-old friend who died of breast cancer. She said, “All the stuff in the world – whether turkey, masters degrees, whatever – it doesn’t matter, because you can’t take it with you. People are what matters. And there’s space for all of us.”
And, with that, it became Christmastime.
Dogs Don't Eat Pizza 
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