Christmas spirit…

I’m having a really hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year.  Normally, I have my house decorated and my tree up and I’m wrapping gifts at this point.  This year…nothing.  Last night, while we watched the Rockefeller tree lighting, J commented that he’s shocked that I let them get their tree up before I did ours.  That never happens. 

The thing is…I’ve been having trouble seeing the good in humanity lately.  I’ve heard too many stories of people doing messed up things…like this…or like leaving my father bleeding in the street and driving away.  (Sorry, I know I keep bringing this up, but I just still can’t believe someone would do that!)  So having Christmas spirit and seeing the joy in everything…just wasn’t happening for me this year. 

But Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I wait patiently for all the rest of the months to go by so it can finally be Christmas…and I know if I just let it pass by without putting up my tree or singing Christmas carols or watching all the holiday specials on TV, I’m going to regret it come January. 

So, I’m kicking up the Christmas spirit…starting now.  I’m going to spend my lunch looking at cookie recipes and planning out my baking.  When I get home tonight, I’m heading straight to the attic to sift through my decorations and I’m going to get my tree up before I go to bed tonight.  I set my DVR to record several Christmas specials and I’m going to break out the Christmas DVDs when we are in CT this weekend.  I will get into the Christmas spirit if it kills me. 

I’m going to be bringing some of that Christmas to the blog, too…starting next week with pictures of some of the Christmas windows…including the Barney’s windows designed by Lady Gaga…which are seriously awesome. 

There will also be a few presents for my readers throughout the month.  And today I have the first one…

One of the ways I want to try to get into the Christmas spirit is to try to pay it forward and try to make the world just a little bit better.  Number 3 on my 101 list is “Give someone a microloan through kiva.org”.  For those who aren’t familiar with Kiva, they are…”a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.”  Basically, through them, you can lend money to people in impoverished countries and, in turn, those people invest the money in building their own businesses. 

This was one of the first items I checked off my list…because I’d wanted to do it for a long time and because it was super easy.  Since that first loan in September of last year, I’ve done 6 others and plan to keep going.  As each loan is repaid, I make a new one.    I’m not exactly changing the world…but at least I’m doing a little something. 

So my first reader Christmas present is a $50 Kiva card…which lets you make your own microlaon to someone.  And to give you just a little more incentive…the winner will receive a personal gift as well…but that will remain a secret until it arrives on your doorstep. 

As for the rules…you guys know I like to keep it simple.  So you get one entry for every comment you leave on the blog for the next week.  And since I’m on Twitter now…you will also get one entry if you tweet about this.  Deadline for entry is Thursday, December 8th at midnight.  I will choose a winner at random and announce it next Friday. 

I hope you’ll join me in spreading the Christmas spirit.