Making Christmas last

What is it about volunteering that just feels so good? What is it about the act of setting aside our interests and working together that draws us in?

We’re luckier than most. We spend much of November and December writing holiday related stories and telling our neighbors about local opportunities to shop at bazaars, have their photos taken with Santa Claus or volunteer to help others.

In our Valley, hundreds of us have found ways to make Christmas last longer than one day, 12 days or even the whole month of December. In fact, some of the best parts of Christmas in the Mat-Su Borough take all year to plan.

Good-hearted Valley neighbors like Elsie O’Bryan, Mari Jo Parks and Donna Anthony lead local efforts annually that deliver the miracle of Christmas to thousands of our neighbors who need just such a restorative.

O’Bryan’s Christmas Friendship Dinner fed more than 3,400 people this year. Parks’ Mat-Su Special Santa gave away about as many toys to Valley children. And Anthony delivered her unique brand of Santa Cop and Heroes help and holiday cheer to hundreds of seniors from Sutton to Talkeetna.

If you went to Christmas dinner somewhere other than the Menard center in Wasilla Tuesday, maybe you discovered — like some in our newsroom — that you were a bit envious of your neighbors who spent their day there sharing a meal and conversation. You might have felt a twinge of jealousy as well trapped behind your desk while your daughter volunteered for a third day at the Special Santa workshop.

We’re not sure why it feels so good to volunteer, but we know it does.

We’ve written about these Valley do-gooders before. We’ve sung their praises and encouraged you to join in. We are proud that many of you responded by taking your whole family to volunteer, to share, to give of themselves this Christmas season.

It feels good to help your community and volunteering side-by-side gives our kids a chance to feel for themselves the truism that it is “better to give than to receive.” Sometimes we all need our Christmas spirit replenished. But sometimes what we’re short on is the opportunity to give. And other times we’re short on basics like food or gifts for our kids.

Volunteering offers us all a reminder that there is good in all of us, and we have only to share of ourselves to make Christmas last for 12 months and 365 days.