When I was three I got a baby doll for Christmas - or it may have been my birthday which is right before Christmas. I already had one baby doll that I had cleverly named "Dolly", so I named the new doll "Big Dolly". My mother told me it was nice to have two dolls, but that there was a little girl she knew who didn't have any dolls at all and suggested that I give my old doll away. We washed and dressed "Dolly" and set off up the street. I remember very clearly a thin woman in a housedress with a little girl behind her skirts. I gave the little girl "Dolly" and, after some prodding from her mother, she thanked me. Then my mother and I walked home, me clutching "Big Dolly" to my chest. I had lots of dolls through the years, but have never forgotten the first one.
When my children were young I asked them one year to clean out their toy boxes between Thanksgiving and Christmas and to donate any unused toys to the Salvation Army so that there would be room for new toys from Santa. I found out later that my son went to school and told his teacher, "My mother says if I don't give away half my toys, Santa won't bring me anything." I hope she understood what I was trying to teach him.
I still get bouts of nervousness when I think I have too much stuff, or too many unused items around the house. Having is nice, but sharing is nicer.
I went to my diabetic education class today, and found the following poem on the door:
To leave the old with a burst of song;
To recall the right and forgive the wrong;
To forget the things that bind you fast
To the vain regrets of the year that’s past;
To have the strength to let go your hold
Of the not worth while of the days grown old;
To dare go forth with a purpose true,
To the unknown task of the year that’s new;
To help your brother along the road,
To do his work and lift his load;
To add your gift to the world’s good cheer,
Is to have and to give a Happy New Year.
---Author Unknown
