It's a Christmas Miracle!

Well, this is officially my first Christmas flying solo. I'm learning the hard way that the hospitality industry never sleeps (well, technically, I guess our guests DO sleep...which is the whole purpose of the hospitality industry. But you know.), so what it boils down to is this: I'm spending my joyeux noel in P-town while my family is having their feliz navidad back in the Old Pueblo.

I've learned several things already from this lonely venture through the holidays. Firstly, I miss my family. That was a given, right? Though my mom and I are having concurrent baking marathons, it's just not the same when we're 735 miles away from each other. On a totally unrelated tangent, I've also learned that Provo at this time of year is spooky. And gorgeous. Kind of like what would happen if Chris Pine was a ghost...at first you'd be like "AAAHHHH!" but then you'd be more like "Oh, hello there!(insert seductive wink here)" But I digress. Provo is spooky because it's a ghost town. I got a parking spot in the VERY FIRST ROW of spots in front of University Mall. If you've ever spent any time there, you know how unheard of that is! However, as mentioned before, it's also gorgeous (in a different way than Chris Pine). Here's an example:

Can you say winter wonderland? The best part? This picture was taken in the aforementioned mall parking lot!

But I think the most important lesson I've learned thus far came from my five-millionth viewing of my absolute favorite Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life. In fact, the lesson I learned came from this scene in particular

The true magic of Christmas comes from people going out of their way to perform random acts of kindness for each other. Some are as small and as common as buying gifts for our friends and family. Others are massive undertakings that are nothing short of a real-life Christmas miracle. 

I was talking to a coworker about all this and he shared this story with me. His dad is an ecclesiastical leader of a congregation in their hometown. His dad caught wind that there was a family in need among them. And then, filled with the Christmas spirit, he jumped into action. The CliffNotes version of the family's struggle is this: November sucked. The dad of the family was laid off from his job the same month that his wife gave birth to their first baby - four months early. We can all do the math. No job + astronomical hospital bills = the express route to bankruptcy. Oh, and did I mention that their car's engine blew?   So not only did they go broke, they now didn't have a means of transportation to get to and from the hospital to visit their child in the NICU. 

So the father of my co-worker decided that they could at least try and chip in for some bills and groceries to tide them over until the dad got hired again. He presented the idea to the congregation one Sunday morning. And then a miracle happened. By the end of the day, they hadn't collected enough money for the bills and the food. They had collected enough money for both of those things AND enough to buy a used car AND pay for a year of car insurance. Now for the best part of the story. The dad of the family who the funds were being collected for (who, by the way, had no idea this was being done for them) approached hesitantly with an envelope in hand. He said "we're in a pretty tight spot right now, and this isn't much, but if this family's need is as great as you say it is, they need this more than we do." The envelope was opened to reveal a $20 bill.

My faith in humanity has been restored. There are so many kind, caring people out there who are ready and willing to help. Want a specific example? Just go to Twitter and search #26acts. Go ahead, I dare you not to cry. 

Now that we've all bawled our eyes out, let me just leave you with a gorgeous, happy thought:

So Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy your families, enjoy the holidays, and enjoy the Christmas miracles that don't seem to be that hard to find this time of year.