One of my favorite events here at Baldwin-Whitehall is our annual Holiday Cookie Extravaganza for our District’s senior citizens. I see so much joy from our cookie-baking volunteers, our students who perform festive holiday music, and our local seniors who get to be an active part of our learning CommUnity while they enjoy our homemade treats. It’s truly a special feeling.
It also reminds me that getting to spend time with the people in our lives — especially our elders — is a moment that we should all treasure. When we see someone regularly, we have a tendency to take them for granted, as if we’ll always have more time to spend together. But when we look back, we often wish we'd gotten to know our friends, coworkers, and extended family better, and spent more quality time with the ones we love.
That’s one reason why the winter holidays are so magical. It can feel like time stands still for a few days while we celebrate old traditions, make new memories, and catch up with people we often haven’t seen in a long time. It’s a chance for grandparents to bond with grandkids while wrapping gifts and preparing holiday meals, for aunts and uncles to reconnect with their nieces and nephews, and for neighbors to see all of the now-adult children return to the homes they grew up in.
Each of the people in our lives has stories worth telling, advice worth sharing, and memories worth preserving. This holiday season, take a moment to spend some time with your older friends, neighbors, and relatives. Ask them questions, check to see if they need any help you can offer, and invite them to share their recollections of holidays gone by. You never know what you might learn in your time together, and what special memories you'll be happy to look back on many years from now.