Be good this Holiday Season

                            Source: MS Office Clip Art collection

 

Good day readers! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am so excited! It has been a tradition since I got married to have Thanksgiving dinner at our place. Not to worry! I have a **WONDERFUL** mother-in-law who not only emanates light and happiness but who also helps me so much. She in fact prepares everything, so all I have to do is organize our place and prepare some finger food. I am thinking about making some clam dip and pesto bruschetta. If you would like to see those recipes posted here or emailed to you, let me know and I will be happy to oblige :)

Now on to more important things. This morning I woke up thinking about my art, how to improve my photographs, new products for my Etsy shop, etc. And I admit that I was also thinking about my favorite drink in the whole wide world - a Grande, non-fat, no whipped cream, 6-pump white chocolate mocha. I am picky like that ;) As I parked my jelly bean of a car (my prius) I saw the familiar face of a nice man who is always sitting in front of my neighborhood Starbucks. The jelly bean said it was 33 degrees outside. As I walked in, I greeted him as I usually do and I added "It is so chilly outside!" The poor man responded: "Try sleeping outside, that's chilly!" I was so disconcerted I did not know what to say. I had seen and greeted that man on a regular basis and it had never occurred to me that he was homeless. 

But all the signs were there, if just I had stopped worrying about my life and what I needed to do that day and paid more attention to people around me... So readers, my advice today is: pay more attention to things, places and people around you. Chances are you have been missing out on a lot of things. 

And be kind to others. Although our first instinct might be to think that the reason someone is in a precarious situation is because they did it to themselves, try not to be judgmental, and do know that regardless of the reasons someone is where he/she is today, he/she may not deserve to be there. 

While I was waiting for my drink, I was thinking of the things I could do to help the poor man. After all, no one deserves to be cold. So I went home, packed a blanket, a comforter, some old clothes and a pair of gloves and drove back to the coffee shop. Needless to say, my friend, the homeless guy, was so grateful and happy. Be good this holiday season and remember: if you give the world the best you have, the best will come back to you. 

I have done some research and compiled a list of charity organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area that are accepting donations this holiday season:

1. Society of St. Vincent de Paul in SF. They accept cash donations as well as donations to their thrift shops:

http://www.svdpusa.org/default.aspx?tabid=84

2. San Francisco Food Bank:

http://www.sffoodbank.org/ 

3. Bay Area Kids Charity:

http://bayareacharity.org/

I will be back over the long weekend to post that tutorial, I promise.