Rushing the Season???

One of my first thoughts when I woke up this morning was that it  is exactly two months until Christmas and about a month until Thanksgiving.   It seems that the holiday season keeps getting earlier and earlier each year.  I understand that stores make a lot of their profit during that particular time of the year, but seeing a fully lit Christmas tree in one of the stores that I frequent  in the middle of September seemed a bit much.  I couldn't believe  the store had several aisles of Christmas merchandise, trees, lights and other items already out.  Back to school shopping had barely finished!!   A few years ago I remember I went to a store looking for a few items to help supplement my daughter's Halloween costume.  I was in the store on Halloween (surprisingly those aisles of the store were almost empty).  The employees were actually taking apart the displays! I felt like saying, "excuse me, but could you wait until at least the next day to take the Halloween stuff down??"   Many people  have anxiety this time of year.  There are a lot of families out there that are just barely getting by and others that have more than they need.  One of the best gifts I gave to my own extended family one year was making a donation to Heifer International on their behalf.  That particular organization uses your donation to help feed others.   The holidays are hard  for families that have lost a loved one, can't be with their families for whatever reason or don't have a family or loved ones to share the holidays with.   Sometimes one of the nicest things you can do for someone else is to hold a door open for them (especially a mom with a stroller)!  I'll never forget when my little man was not even crawling yet, I was heading towards a door with him on my hip and someone walked directly  in front of me, opened the door for himself  and let it slam in my face!  I think a lot of us get kind of caught up in our "little worlds", I'm one that is guilty of that sometimes myself.   You really never know what other people have going on in their lives and you can become quite distracted with your own life. Take a few moments as we head into the holiday season to remember others and to smile at a stranger.  It takes more muscles to frown than to smile.  Let the person behind you in the line at the grocery store go ahead of you. That type  of  "gift" doesn't require money, it requires just a few extra minutes of your time and it will make you feel good.   It's a gift you can give to someone else all year long!