My Christmas Angel Project is taking off, in the most amazing way. What’s breathtaking to me is that I will read an email from someone who has every right to be making a request…and I’ll be surprised at the end with a statement similar to this:

“Although I can’t afford much, I love the idea of your project. Please count me in!”

In an age where people complain loudest because they don’t have what they feel they “deserve,” where you hear left and right in the media about protestors protesting people that are working hard to earn a dollar, where those who are able to wade through all the muck and rise above are ridiculed and belittle for having the gall to actually succeed…well, I was expecting a different response. But I have been blown away. And I have (once again) learned so much about humanity and humility.

In fact, my Angels by far outnumber my requests…which isn’t something I was prepared for! So please, please, please, put on your thinking caps and let me know if you know of someone who could use a smile in their day! (For more information, click on the blue angel in the right corner…it looks like this:)

But one request came in that I can definitely get on right away. It was a simple request, simply stated and it promptly reminded me about all of the things I’m thankful for…including you.

This request was for each and every one of us to not put off ’til tomorrow those things that you can do today. And I don’t mean dishes, or cleaning out that last cupboard, or washing windows…I mean calling your grandmother, sending a note to your neighbor, talking to the lady down the street who is spending her first holiday alone. Picking up the phone, just to say, “Hi!” Writing a note, letting distant family members know how you’re doing. It’s the little things that can make such a big difference.

You know, Christmas cards wouldn’t be such a chore and a hassle, if all we had to do was update our photos. If we didn’t have to recapture the whole year in a page or two, wouldn’t that be simpler? If we keep in touch and let those that we care about know what’s happening more frequently, those connections would be stronger, those bonds would be tighter and our memories would be brighter.

All it takes is a moment…and in the end, it’s those moments that count the most.

Valerie Lynn Brandenburger and Vivian Lorraine Brandenburger - peas in a pod.