I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! I know that I sure did! I just finished my "Year-In-Review" post on my personal blog, Traffic Notes. And, if you read all the way to the bottom you will see that I'M ENGAGED!!! Christopher proposed on Christmas Eve morning at the beach during sunrise. And of course, I SAID YES! I am so proud to be his fiance, and just beeming at the thought of marrying the man I love!

Ok, so enough about me, I want to talk about Christmas! Have you ever noticed how everyone becomes more kind, generous, and caring during the holidays? People tend to give more, and people say hi and Merry Christmas when you pass them. Overall, the holidays are a time of giving and kindness.

Of course, I think that's just wonderful. But, I have a question: why are we like that only during the holidays? We can't we have the same giving, caring spirit all year long?

I came across this quote that says it best...

"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."  ~Charles Dickens

Christmas really is "a kind, forgiving, charitable time". So, ask yourself this, what would the world be like if we all had that same Christmas spirit all year round?

Why is it that we have to wait for a holiday to remind us to care about other people, and to be kind? Are we really too busy and caught up in ourselves to smile at someone else? Are we really so greedy that we can't spare some cans of food from our pantry, when we all know they have been sitting there for months unused?

So my challenge to you, and to myself, is to keep that Christmas spirit. Don't let it fade away because a date on the calendar has passed.

So Merry Christmas everyone! Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and the rest of our days!