If you’re like me, you look forward to Christmas Day festivities. In our home, we celebrate the morning exchanging gifts and cap off the day with a Christmas dinner consisting of ham, turkey and all the trimmings.

The same tablecloth, dishes and silverware used year after year are a traditional part of our Christmas Day. While it doesn’t change how the food tastes, it does set the atmosphere for our family’s traditional gathering. These are the things my kids and grandkids come to expect and will always remember about our Christmas dinners, just as I can picture and smell the Christmas Day celebrations of my childhood.

While I have vividly warm and pleasant memories of those days, others may have unhappy and tragic memories, which are just as vivid. The holiday season enjoyed by so many, also serves to emphasize the dilemma of the less fortunate. For some, the holidays are not a time of joy and cheer, but instead are a time of depression, loneliness and anxiety.

There is a lot of pressure in our society today that indicates our lives should be like Norman Rockwell paintings. It’s this romanticized, material view we see on television, during the holidays that tells us, we (and our families) do not measure up and emphasizes our tarnished and less than perfect situation.

At the Nashville Rescue Mission, our focus is to look past the circumstances and see the real person, while at the same time, helping them to overcome their circumstances. We want this Christmas to be a day that gives each of them an opportunity to start building positive memories.

Because of your faithful generosity, this day will be marked by gratitude for life, warmth, good food and building memories. Thank you for being a part of our family!

 

 

 

Don Worrell