Dear Delilah,

To me the true meaning of the holidays is spending time with your family and loved ones, and if you know anyone who is alone with no family or friends, invite them to spend some time with you or just take a short time and go visit them. Maybe take them a plate of goodies, you will be amazed how you will light up their life and yours.My favorite memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was young was going to my grandparents for dinner and being with all my relatives from out of state, and helping my grandmother do her Christmas baking.

My grandparents and parents are all gone now and most of my aunts and uncles too, so now it's my turn to make memories for my children and grandchildren so they have the wonderful memories like I do. I don't think it will ever be the same as it was back then, but we all need to try and teach our children what the real meaning of the holidays are, so we can keep passing it down from generation to generation.

I work in a hospice center and I have worked in nursing homes; what joy it brought me to see the faces on the patients when someone would come and visit, or the children would come and sing Christmas carols. To me that was the greatest pleasure and the true meaning of Christmas.

I know these are busy times and we all have so much to do in our own lives, but if we could just take a few minutes and try to brighten someone's life we just might start the old tradition of the holiday's again.

Have a wonderful old fashioned holiday!
Mary