Remember when you were a child?
The anticipation of Christmas was one of the best memories ever.
I remember my parents, as cunning as they thought they were, would always tell me that Santa Claus was going to bring the presents in that night and we should go to bed early so Santa can visit us and make us one of the first houses on his trip.
I remember never being able to fall asleep that night before Christmas. I'd be up all night long waiting for Santa Claus. I would go out several times to check under the tree to see if Santa Claus delivered the presents.
I never caught my parents putting the presents under the tree.
It's amazing. As a child, you never seem to catch your parents putting the presents under the tree, but yet, there's some point in the middle of the night when you wake up and there they are.
Remember seeing all the presents neatly wrapped under the tree. You'd look at your pile; you'd look at your sister's pile and your brother's pile.
You'd count to make sure that all the piles were even because as a kid it was quantity over quality all the time.
You'd shake them a little bit to try to figure out what it was before opening it -- due diligence to see if Santa gave you everything that you wanted.
Did you get the racetrack that you wanted? Did the dollhouse arrive intact?
But, do you want to know why I believe in Santa right now, as an adult?
Santa Claus is in all of us.
We all have the power to become Santa. We all have the power to make somebody's holiday.
Aren't the holidays all about giving and sharing love, giving a gift to somebody just because you feel like giving and not expecting anything back?
Isn't that what Santa Claus is? Santa gives gifts all over the place. That's all he does.
Maybe he get's an occasional cookie and a glass of milk, but Santa just gives and gives with no expectation of return.
So, this holiday season, you have an opportunity to be Santa. We're less than two weeks away from Christmas and you have the opportunity to be Santa to all the people in your life.
The other night when I flew back from New York, I gave the cab driver a $10 tip on a $20 cab ride. He looked at me and he almost dropped right then and there. I looked at him directly in the eyes and I said, "Merry Christmas."
All the people in your life right now that you see on a regular basis -- give them the gift of Santa.
You know what the best holiday gift you can give is? Giving the gift of you.
Acknowledge people. Thank them for the good service. If you go to Starbucks every single morning, thank the person who made your coffee. Thank them for the service they gave you.
When you go to the supermarket, thank the cashier; wish her a happy holiday, or a merry Christmas -- whatever you want. But thank them from the bottom of your heart and be that Santa Claus to them.
Santa is all about giving, so give people love.
Tip a little bit more in your favorite restaurant, give them a Christmas card, give them a candy cane. Become their Santa. Show appreciation this time of year.
We all don't do this on a regular basis. We don't thank people enough for the wonderful service that they've given us throughout the whole year. So do it now.
You have an opportunity to become Santa Claus. Some of you are maybe too small to don the outfit. But we all have that inner Santa, and we all have the opportunity to show that appreciation to all the people this year who have made our life easier -- all the people that you don't regularly acknowledge.
For those of you that give gifts, think about if that bottle of wine is something they really could use, or if they could really use the 10 extra dollars. Could they really use a gift certificate instead of that shirt?
Be Santa: make someone's Christmas magical. Make them feel amazed; make them feel special, because that's what the holidays are all about. The holidays are about unlocking the love that you have inside for everybody that you share space with on a daily basis.
I'm going to be Santa right now to all of you. I thank all of you for following me this year, for reading my posts.
I thank all of you for commenting, whether you agreed with me or disagreed with me on something. I thank you for sharing your opinions.
And more importantly, I thank you for being a part of my life, even though we've never met.
. . .
Unlock your inner Santa. You're going to feel really wonderful this holiday season.