Holiday spirit all year long & Santa really does exist

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Dear Suds Buds:

Don’t know about you, but I sure am glad that the holidays are over for another year.  Things are always so hectic between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.  It is nice (even comforting) to know that with December 21st behind us (the winter solstice), the days are getting longer and Spring is just around the corner!

 

But through the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, there is always one thing that stands out for me – the spirit of giving.  The spirit of being welcoming and helpful.  The spirit of doing for others.

 

Wouldn’t you like to see a little more of that on your favorite soap? Soaps are a genre where backstabbing, stealing love interests, corporate takeovers and the like seem to be more the norm.  I suppose it’s because conflict is more interesting storytelling than everyone being happy all the time.  If everyone were happy all the time, it wouldn’t be long before we stopped tuning in.

 

But we don’t live on the soaps.  We are not worried about an audience tuning in and winning February sweeps.  We can strive to be happy all the time and bring happiness into the lives of others.  I hope that we all can carry a little of the holiday spirit with us throughout the rest of this year.  Just because the holidays are over, doesn’t mean we still can’t think of someone and bring or send them a gift. Or drop a line to a friend we haven’t heard from in a while.

  

So, on that note (no pun intended, LOL), I leave you with this little story. My cousin sent it to me right before Christmas. The author is unknown, but the sentiment is well worth carrying with us all year long.

 

Santa & Grandma
Author unknown

 

    I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid.
    I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big
    sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even
    dummies know that!"

 

    My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that
    day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always    told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot
   easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I
    knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

    Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told
    her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted.
    "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for
    years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's
    go." "Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked I hadn't even finished my second
    world-famous cinnamon bun.

 

    "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town
    that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through
   it's doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those
    days.

 

    "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs
    it.   I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of
   Kerby's.

 

   I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but
    never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and
    crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.
    For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that
    ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

   I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the
    kids at school, and the people who went to my church. I was just about
    thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with
    bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's
   grade-two class.

 

   Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out
    to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the
    teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker
    didn't have a cough; he had no coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with
   growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

 

   I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real
    warm, and he would like that. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?"
    the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.

   "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby." The nice lady smiled at
    me.  I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished
    me a Merry Christmas.

 

    That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and
    ribbons (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her
    Bible) and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that
    Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby
    Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever
    officially one of Santa's helpers. Grandma parked down the street from
    Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by
    his front walk.

 

    Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered,
    "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the
    present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the
    safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the
    darkness for the front door to open.

 

    Finally it did, and there stood Bobby. Fifty years haven't dimmed the
    thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby
    Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about
    Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous.               

 

     Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.  I still have the Bible, with the tag tucked inside: $19.95.

 

We at Soapdom.com wish for you all that you wish for yourselves in 2004.  Happy New Year everyone!

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Coming SOON to Soapdom.com

• The 4th Annual Soapdom Cybby Awards Winners.
• Our exclusive interview with Jackie Zeman (Bobbie, GH) on her role as spokesperson for the AHA’s “Power of Love” campaign, her role on GH, her first encounter with nuLucky, Greg Vaughan, and saying good-bye to former Lucky, Jacob Young.
• Our exclusive interview with Greg Vaughan, (nuLucky, GH).
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• And more  -- so stay tuned!

Til the top of next week,

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CEO, Soapdom, Inc.

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