Folly #79: Holidays

Finding celebration.

Today’s Folly is short. I know it’s a busy time.

In prior years, I’ve shared tools for giving, since this is a time when many give.

10 easy philanthropy resolutions each of us can make to support thriving people and places.

Places to find high-impact nonprofits worthy of your year-end gifts.

A plea for each of us – after all, individuals make up roughly 70% of all charitable giving (grants are a small and mostly painful source of money for nonprofits) – to make recurring, unrestricted gifts spread across the year to fund critical work that happens all year, instead of a one-time year-end gift.

But this year, for the last post of 2024, I’d like to share something personal about the holidays.

We celebrate Christmas. And for 49 years of my life, the holidays for me were all about my mom: think gaudy decorations and a ridiculous abundance of gifts under the tree. Nothing fancy, but lots of it.

Each year she would find something inexpensive she loved and buy dozens of them, then personally deliver them to everyone, especially those who were often overlooked. The receptionist at the nail salon. The mail carrier. The gardener. The host of any holiday gathering. The woman who scheduled appointments to cut and dye her wonderful head of red hair. She was like a 5’9” female, red-headed Santa Claus. It was silly. And it was wonderful.

She’s been gone many years. I honor many of her traditions and have added some of my own. But it’s never quite the same. So holidays, for me, are hard.

And in previous posts, like this one, I may have mentioned that It’s a Wonderful Life is my all-time favorite film. It’s all about the power of one person to make a difference, and ignites the eternal optimist in me. (How else could I be a fundraiser if not for an abiding faith in humankind?)

So this year, I’ll share another favorite.

Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas Day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to clasp.

Enjoy these next weeks. I wish you moments of laughter and time for reflection. Be kind to yourself and let others be kind to you. Holidays can bring out the good in even the grinchiest.

And if you have a small moment, I hope you’ll share a favorite holiday tradition or memory.

See you in 2025.