As I sit in my Starbucks it is drizzling outside. The sky is a bleary grey color with no sign of the sun anywhere. The amazing gift was that Saturday was our Christmas Party and the weather was picture perfect! The sun was out shinning and the weather was 70 degrees. I was so blessed to have a ‘ton’ of volunteers to make this year’s Christmas Party a huge success.
The awesome gift of friendship does have its dividends in volunteers who will go above and beyond the call of duty. This year’s party for our group saw approximately 150 show up between enjoying the bouncies, jousting, jumping, doing crafts, face painting, making pine cone Christmas trees and having a great lunch with a variety of offerings from the neighborhood. I know that I pointed a few of kids to say a big thank you to the few who were instrumental in putting this all together.
I know that whenever we give out gifts there will always be some who will be left out and others that will be jealous because they didn’t exactly get the gift they wanted. I have memories from childhood of being hurt or disappointed so as an adult I understand but also get frustrated at times. So I was almost ready to scream something un-Christmasish at a few. I had one adult, whose mom is one of my grandmas. She always receives a food gift card but this individual didn’t. Instead of saying thanks Dave, it was where is my card? I asked the obvious, how have you been involved this year?
What was truly sad for me was one of the residents in the South Ranch Community was really scrougish in looking for any little thing to complain about. I know that she struggles with me doing things in the park especially when it brings outsiders, which I do understand. I had bent over backwards to get permission to use the park through the proper channels. I handed out flyers saying that there was a free lunch in the park with games, bouncies and face painting. Yet, after all was said and done she was upset that there weren’t gifts for everyone. We had explained that the gifts were for those involved with the tutoring club for the year. Her sons had been involved but she decided to not let them join the last 2 years. I do care and want to win her over, yet regardless of what I do there is always something wrong.
So what do I do? I most likely will do the party next year in a different park, which we will use in the coming year for different activities. It is unfortunate to be a situation where ethnicity and religious background colors your ability to be a friend. I went the extra mile, against my better judgment and paid for a porta jon to be delivered and available. I would have preferred to have given the $150 cost to a family in need.
It would be easy to let this take away the Christmas Spirit within, but I’m not going to let anyone rob me of the special joy of Christ’s coming. I’m not going to plot any type of revenge but think of some crazy way to love on this lady so she can truly experience Christmas.
I do want to thank my crew of volunteers who made our party an unforgettable day. THANKS my FRIENDS!
No comments:
Post a Comment