I heard a guy on tv say Americans are running out of shared experiences. We watch different news channels. We are shopping from our homes instead of in stores. Someone is trying to make concerts virtual with avatar artists. Every kid isn’t showing up for the first day of kindergarten down at your local school. The line of little kids with backpacks bigger than they are is a bit shorter these days. If you focus on all of that and the fact that Americans are even choosing sides over where we eat our chicken and drink our coffee it doesn’t take long to get depressed. Travel further down that road to some of the other things we don’t agree on and things can turn really, really dark. Into that darkness, Christmas comes to save the day. In so many, many ways. If you are a believer, Christmas is the promise that our Savior has already saved the day. We’re just waiting for the final score to hit the board. For it to be official that good wins. Hold tight to that. It’s gonna happen. Until then, hold onto Christmas. Christmas is our sign post to a future we all wish for. And it’s not going anywhere. I say this because, as someone who travels extensively, I am here to tell you Christmas is everywhere. I mean everywhere. I pass hay bales painted to look like Santa. Small towns drum up volunteers to go down and put lights on the courthouse and to find folks to decorate their trucks for the parade. Small businesses that have been struggling lately still pay someone to come and paint snowflakes and holly and snowmen on their shop windows. Teachers at the local school pull money out of their own budgets to make sure their students have a little gift to take home and open. A bottle of bubbles or a pair of fuzzy socks. A picture of them wearing a Santa hat and framed out in puzzle pieces to hang on the fridge at home. Someone from the city will go and dress whatever the big statue is in your town in a Santa costume just to make you smile. I’ve seen a giant man, a road runner and a panther all dressed as Saint Nick. Every one of them elicited a grin from me. And I was happy to give it. Grab a hot chocolate and drive around your neighborhood. A lot of people are stringing up lights to participate in the merriness this time of year. Red lights, blue lights, icicle lights. Giant pink pigs and nutcrackers and even an alien with a wreath around its’ neck. I’ve seen them all. There’s absolutely nothing more beautiful than driving through a dark night and suddenly seeing a brightly lit house in the middle of nowhere. You take your foot off the gas and slow down to look. If you’re me, you put your hand against the cold glass in a little salute to the time and energy it took to create that scene. You feel connected to the family who did it. Like maybe if you knocked on their door they might invite you in to watch A Christmas Story. Give you a fuzzy blanket to cover up with and start a fire. Imagine how many homes will do just that this holiday season and all of a sudden America will start to feel like a really big family again. Yes, we have those few relatives that have to start some drama every Christmas, but we don’t let them spoil the whole day. After all, a lot of us have showed up just to enjoy each other. To eat Christmas cookies and do kind things and hand out shiny packages to people we love. There’s more of us than there are of them. Look around and you’ll see I’m right. There are Christmas kindnesses everywhere and we can all participate as much as we want to. It’s a shared experience that we are all invited to. I hope the guy from the tv gets out and realizes that too. I’d like to hear more about the folks shoveling a neighbor’s driveway and volunteering to serve Christmas dinner at the local shelter and less about those seeking to divide us. Every wreath and blow up in a front yard is someone saying I’d like to be a part of this good thing that is happening. This time of year when people soften and life is warmer. This belief that, in the end, good will win. Yes please. You can count on me America. Put me down for a dozen cookies and a giant blow up Santa flying an airplane. Some kid will love that. And thank you to everyone helping decorate our country for our big family celebration. I see you.