It's 9 o'clock on a Monday night,
The Christmas Tree is aglow
The scraps of wrappings are all around
The air holds a faint "Ho Ho Ho!"

Merry Christmas! Been a while, huh? I seem to do that. Between life, and work, and just general me-ness... time is often a premium. I have to admit with the blast of absolute terror that blanketed schools in October, I wasn't feeling much like doing anthing except holing up with my kids and thanking God for each safe day. However, that doesn't teach them anything except that their mother is a chicken.

And everyone who knows me, knows that I'm an elf.

So...Fate (Love her!) dropped an idea into my heart. An idea to marshall a very special army of Christmas elves to deliver one very special Christmas to one very special Lunatic. This person is probably the reason most of us are still here and (somewhat) sane. The idea stuck one night and we all just ran with it. Soon there were packages and wishes and all kinds of stuff on the way. Hell, we roped his entire family into helping us on our mission! We were so full of Christmas spirit.. I shopped, compared prices, cajoled, bargained... we got SO much for our money. We were entirely too full of ourselves.

Because then the doubt set in.

What had we done? We had basically shanghaied his holiday, right? This person who NEVER accepted our help. His lot in life is to help and be there for us, not the other way around. What if he gets mad?

I paced all Christmas Eve. I was freaking right the heck out.

In short, he loved it... although he DID grumble that it was too much. However now there is no doubt... he knows he's loved. He loves in return. We will live to gift another day.

The spirit of this project and of my friends who came together to make it happen carried over into my entire Christmas for everyone. I was a little more giving, a little happier, more selfless... and karma has repaid me in spades. Positive in equals positive out. I GET IT, Universe..truly I do get it.

So on this first night of Christmas.. I hope you are with your own true loves and experiencing the light and joy of this wonderous season. I rest easy in knowing that I have the best friends in the world, and that we all shared a Christmas like no other.