Creating Cheer for the Holidays

Have you ever spent a big holiday away from friends and family? I have, many times. Being a “citizen of the world” I have often found myself alone on the big days and let me assure you, it is pretty miserable. At this particular point each year, people take stock of who they are, what their lives have come to, and whom they have to share it with. Some of us are set up quite nicely, whilst others are not as lucky.

December is a great month to take strides into making this city a kinder, nicer, more feel good place. This season grants us with an excuse to reach out to the people around us. It is going to take some serious work on all of our parts. For 10-months now I have written about putting ourselves out there and a couple of people have mentioned to me that Kits is now a little less “smile-averse” than it was before.

That said it still feels strange to say hello to someone you are standing beside on the street corner whilst waiting for the light to change. The time has come to take some drastic measures or “go big” as they say (whoever they are). Challenge yourself to be crazy friendly. Invite the neighbours in for tea. Knock on the doorways in your apartment building and hand out Season’s Greetings (for the Pros: find out what your neighbours’ believe in and give them a specific Christmas or Hanukkah card!) Send all of the people who made this year special for you a personal hand-written letter telling them how much they have added to your life. Random acts of kindness to street people, like buying them a sandwich, will do your heart good. Trust me on this one, just try it.

One of my favourite things to do around the holidays is to host an open house. It doesn’t have to be on any particular day. For example, last Christmas was one of my favourite days ever, and I don’t even celebrate the holiday! I opened my home to all of the orphans in town and we had over 20-people in my tiny Kits Point flat for a full Christmas lunch. My sisters cooked, God bless them, because I would have probably poisoned the whole lot of them. Everyone stopped by for some cheer and friendship, and a few beverages of course, and we spent the day playing board games and doing absolutely nothing. What a treat!

So this year, I recommend taking a look around you and making sure that we are fulfilling our moral duty to be our brother’s keepers. Ask people if they have somewhere to spend the holidays. If they hesitate, invite them along to your place. Holidays are about creating spirit. We need to become trendsetters. At Campoverde, we work hard at maintaining a friendly place to go to hang out. We actually have a rule that you are not allowed to ignore people, and everyone who passes through our doors has that rule explained to them. People remark that when they enter our social club, they feel as though they have entered another world, a world of friendliness. My goal is to make our entire city feel that way. Ideally, Vancouver could become the place that nobody ever wants to leave because you feel so good when you are here. Currently, people who visit our fair city board a plane to go home saying, “pretty place, but there isn’t much to do and nobody talks to you. It is a tough crowd to break into”.

One day we will get there. Let’s start today. Make a list of people you need to touch base with in your life and then do something about it. Spread some love and it will come back to you tenfold. Cards, letters, phone calls, they all work wonders. But the coup de grace is hosting your own event…without asking your guests to bring anything!

Happy Holidays everyone.