A man is at his finest
towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be
when the Christmas season is here;
Then he's thinking more of others
than he's thought the months before,
And the laughter of his children
is a joy worth toiling for.
He is less a selfish creature than
at any other time;
When the Christmas spirit rules him
he comes close to the sublime.

We cannot all be famous 
or be listed in "Who's Who",
But every person, great or small,
has important work to do.

For seldom do we realize
the importance of small deeds,
Or to what degree of greatness
unnoticed kindness leads.

Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.

To Jesus, all.

There is a story told of a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, "If I could only see the world, I will marry you."'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her, "Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?"

The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse his proposal of marriage.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: "Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine."

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.

Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

*Gifts that Don't Cost a Cent*

1 THE GIFT OF LISTENING - But you must REALLY listen. No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response. Just listening.

2 THE GIFT OF AFFECTION - Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.

3 THE GIFT OF LAUGHTER - Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories. Your gift will say, "I love to laugh with you."

4 THE GIFT OF A WRITTEN NOTE - It can be a simple "Thanks for the help" note or a full sonnet. A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime, and may even change a life.

The priest said to the poor farmer, "If you had a horse, would you give it to the Lord?"

"Yes."

"And if you had a cow?"

"Absolutely."

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. "Your son is here," she said to the old man.

She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened. Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement. The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night, the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

"How much is an ice cream sundae?"

"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it. "How much is a dish of plain ice cream?" he inquired.

Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient. "Thirty-five cents," she said brusquely.

My dog chewed the tongue on one of my new, very expensive running shoes. I hoped to save my investment, so I took the sneakers to a shoe repair shop. I placed them on the counter and told the man, "My dog got hold of this."

The repairman picked up the shoe, looked it over, and placed it back down on the counter.

"Well, what do you recommend?" I asked.

He looked at me and replied, "Give your dog the other shoe."

In a small town in America, there was a Doctor Brackett. He was known as the poor man's friend because he spent hours at the bedside of unfortunates and never ever took a fee from them. He lived in two upstairs rooms over a grocery store. At the foot of the stairs going to his quarters was a painted sign which said: DOC BRACKETT - OFFICE UPSTAIRS.

He even lost his girlfriend, whom he wanted to marry, because, he spent more time with the sick than with her. He spent a life of selfless dedication to any and every person around him. When he died, his funeral was the biggest ever seen in that town.

At a meeting afterwards, the townspeople tried to figure out what kind of monument to erect to the memory of the doctor. A couple who had been especially helped by the doctor, on their way home from the meeting, removed the sign from his door and the following day it appeared over his grave.

It read: DOC BRACKETT - OFFICE UPSTAIRS.

A fellow was very much in love with a beautiful girl. One day she told him that the next day was her birthday. He told her he would send her a bouquet of roses... one for each year of her life.

That evening he called the local florist and ordered twenty-one roses with instructions that they be delivered first thing the next morning.

As the florist was preparing the order, he decided that since the young man was such a good customer, he would put an extra dozen roses in the bouquet.

The fellow never did find out what made the young girl so angry with him.

Ruth went to her mail box and there was only one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter:

Dear Ruth:

I'm going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I would like to visit.

Love Always, Jesus

Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table.

A farmer's cow gave birth to twin bull calves. The farmer was delighted as bull calves are worth more than a cow calf.  Since he had two he decided to sell one for the work of the Lord once it was fully grown.

However one of the calves soon grew sick, and then sicker until one day the farmer came into the house one day looking sad.

He looked at his wife and said, "You'll never guess what's just happened? The Lord's calf is dead!"