The Sanford Berenberg Experience: Message of the Day - Yes Virginia There is a Santa Claus, he is You.

Good Morning,

As mentioned in prior posts I like watching the Norad Tracks Santa website which shows Santa’s progress of delivering gifts around the world (my favorite video is the 2006 promo showing Santa getting a fighter escort http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPoCtPmjqEc). This site shows how interconnected we all are around the world and how Santa Claus and Christmas represent a time for celebration, reflection, a time for giving and being thankful.

At work on Christmas Day, when talking about Santa’s progress (there is an Android app for it you know) one of my co-workers smirked and said: ‘You know Santa died a long time ago’. Getting beyond the jokes, jabs and other flavors of comments, I responded “No, Santa is alive and well”.

I shared how Santa is alive and well in each and every one of us. That we can see it all around us, as we each have an opportunity to be Santa for someone else.

Then one of my coworkers shared that their daughter and her husband are just starting out and had a medical issue requiring some medical treatment, resulting in a $700 bill which they could not afford. A few days later a cashier’s check arrived in the mail from some unknown source for $700.

They may not know who sent it, but I do. It was Santa.

I shared that story with a teller at my bank later that week and she told me about a lady who went to a K-Mart and paid off the Christmas layaways for all the customers of that store. That is, all but one penny for each. When the customers came to pay off their layaways and found the balance to be only one cent.

They didn’t know who gave them that gift, but I do. It was Santa.

At the office I told people that each and every one of us can be Santa. I asked if anyone participated in an Angel Tree program getting a gift for some family or person they did not know. Several said yes. I said “You are Santa to that family or person”.

By our actions to help others, we become Santa. We may not be ole jolly Saint Nick, with a faster than the speed of light sleigh, 9 reindeer and an army of elves making gifts in a northern factory, but we can make the difference in the lives of others just the same.

While Christmas may be over for this year, the generosity of a giving spirit does not have to go into hiding for another year.

We can be Santa all year long. And it does not have to cost us much in time or money.

· Pick up a package of diapers or baby formula and drop it off at a women’s shelter or clinic.

· Bring some gently used winter clothes to a shelter or other collection point.

· Contact a local church and see what they are collecting to help others (supermarkets often have great sales, like 10 for $10 on common items).

· Pay the barista at your favorite coffee shop for another coffee and ask them to gift it some unsuspecting customer and maybe you can start a day long pay it forward marathon where it seems like Santa just showed up for each and every person.

· Contact the Ronald McDonald House and volunteer to clean up and prepare a meal for families experiencing tough times with ill children.

· Go to a nursing home and hang out with some amazingly cool people who have fantastic stories just waiting to be shared.

· Add your idea or what you did here…

Each time we help another we are Santa.

And the more Santa is out and about helping others, our world become that much of a better place to live.

So yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, he is you.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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