Peace On Earth, The Holiday Table And Heroes

Merry Christmas!

To make this Holiday special and memorable, we’d like to offer up a few ideas meant to be shared at the Holiday table. 

Beauty isn’t really in the eye of the beholder, it is in the mind of the beholder. If you diminish yourself in your own mind, others will see you as diminished. If you see yourself as beautiful and as a person with of fine character, then you will be that person. Your words, behavior and how you treat others, will be a reflection of your beauty.

We have been born into the wealthiest, most informed and educated generation in history. Nevertheless, we seem to be unable to discern the difference between what is ethereal and what is eternal. Do we teach our children and loved ones by our own example, that man’s most important endeavor is his work? Is that really what we want to teach? Do we need to remind ourselves and our children and loved ones that our most important and meaningful achievements are uninterrupted time with them? Do they and our loved ones really know how important are the times of quiet self reflection?  In truth, who we are is not defined by the work we do, but instead by the time we spend with loved ones and by the values we hold dear and cherish. We are defined by our personal Sabbaths and not by our work week.

We live in an age of celebrity and an almost insatiable drive for fame. Is the modern day obsession with public adoration fame the result of a lack of love at home?The Omaha mall shooter was willing to kill innocents, because he believed that to find ‘meaning’ and to be heard, he had to do something that would make him famous.

Healthy family relations are about celebrity, too. Are you a celebrity to your kids? Are they celebrities to you? When they see you at the end of they, are they excited? Do they get up from whatever they are doing to greet you? If they don’t, maybe it’s because they don’t know how much they mean to you. Do you take a real interest in their activities and passions? Do they understand how much you care about their future and the hopes and dreams you have for them? Real celebrity can last a lifetime. An idea:

Here’s an example. A father wanted to find special ways to bond with his daughter. Fathers think about that sort of thing. Anyway, what this father did once a month was to have an ‘ice cream emergency.’ What the father did was wake his daughter up at 11 or 12 O’clock at night and insist she hurriedly come to the kitchen- there was an emergency. The ice cream had to be eaten before it melted! Needless to say, there was laughter and good times- and good memories. That went on for years.

Well, that little girl is a teenager now- and she talks about the ‘ice cream emergency!’ as if it were yesterday. To this day, whenever that girl and her father are together, she insists on having an ‘ice cream emergency!’ It is a bond they share. She insists that she will do the same for her kids and that father has been asked more than once by her friends if the ‘ice cream emergency!’ might accommodate a few strangers. That silly ritual it seems, struck a chord with more than a few people.

Be an ideal gift. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary Valentine’s Day or for no reason at all, be the ideal gift. Be the knight in shining armor, attentive and kind. Be the babe he couldn’t get out of his mind, morning, noon and night.

Be the super mom and super dad, the uber cool parent your kids want to talk to. Be the kids your parents dreamed of when they held you for the very first time. Tell them you want them to proud of you and thank them for all they’ve given you. They may not be perfect and they may not have done all they could have.

At the very least, they gave you the opportunity to be better than them.

Make what happens around the holiday table the real gift this year.

Be a Hero.