I am traveling this week. I got up yesterday morning and opened my USA Today to an article titled: Letters to Santa reveal nation in need. It begins with the story of Crystal Skipwith, who as a child knew her mom did not have money for a Christmas gift. She sent a letter to Santa and it went to the U.S. Postal Service’s Operation Santa.

I was moved by this quote:

Every child deserves to have a smile on their face,” Skipwith says. “No child wants to feel poor. Every child should feel like they have what they need.

In 2005, Nancy and I quit exchanging gifts. There is nothing we need and nothing we want. That year our entire family took the money that would have been spent on gifts for each other and gave it to a family who had lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. I have to say it was our best Christmas ever.

Operation Santa is a great way to help children in need. You likely also know about The Marine Corps program Toys for Tots.  I am sure there are a wide variety of other ways to put a smile on a young child’s face. The important thing is to do something.