A Little Christmas Cheer?

With our last week of school being in full swing stress levels are high. Everywhere you go there seems to be more and more Bah Humbugs than happy holidays. Therefore I decided that what everyone needs is to watch this video for some much needed Christmas cheer. Enjoy and if nothing else I hope it puts a smile on your face.

Branches of Joy

This past Saturday, a group of 13 friends and myself participated in an outreach event called Branches of Joy. The idea came from one of my friends from high school, and the purpose is to bring joy to the elderly who are often alone over Christmas.

All day we decorated 42 mini Christmas trees with donated ornaments and made Christmas cards. We then spent over an hour at the St. Adolphe personal care home visiting with seniors, giving them trees and cards, and listening to their stories. It was so amazing. Many people were very out of their comfort zone while trying to communicate with some people who were almost non-verbal. But everyone did a fantastic job, and all of the seniors and staff really appreciated it. One man kept thanking us over and over again for making his day and even his life. It was so sweet, and I think that we were just as blessed as they were. It felt so good to bring joy to people who are otherwise sad, in pain, and lonely. This may have been one of the best parts of my Christmas.

Someone's Trash is someone else's treasure

As previously mentioned our ad class is fundraising to go to Chicago. On Monday we will be having a garage sale at our school and you should definitely come by and check it out. There will be some great deals and who knows, maybe you'll get all your Christmas shopping done? Check out our Facebook page for more info.

12+1=Losing the Grey Cup

I got and interesting email from friend, anyone who watched the Grey Cup this weekend may find it funny. Sorry to any Rider's Fans.

Happiness

Disclaimer: I'm going to get a little cheesy. Maybe even sappy.

Life is stressful. Everyone in CreComm is going a little crazy with all the semester-end assignments. We all can't wait to get out of school for a while and relax. But I think we need to make the most of the next two weeks of school. Life can still be wonderful, and stress doesn't need to control our lives.

I write this on the first day of December because I had a lovely moment of realization. Despite all my stress and work to do, I spent an evening at the Youth for Christ drop-in centre that I volunteer at weekly. I spent my night with a bunch of adolescent girls who spent the whole time giggling. We made Christmas snow globes, ate chips, talked about holidays, and took a walk outside in the beautiful snow.

And I realized something. While walking arm-in-arm with one of my young friends through the crisp snow and pointing out the cool frosted tips of bushes under Christmas lights, I realized that happiness is moments like these. Yes, jobs are important. School is important. Commitments are important. And all of those things stress us out and make us infinitely busy. But if we spend all of our lives focusing on those important things, and never take the time to, well, take time, we will be quite miserable.

So take a step back. Maybe take a night off of homework or work. Do something that makes you truly happy. Whether it's volunteering, taking a walk outside before it gets too cold, or watching The Big Bang Theory while eating ice cream, just relax and take a hold of the small, happy moments.