I saw the reindeer tracks in the snow, the cookies eaten and the milk half full, Santa wrote notes and left nametags on the presents with his face on it. Santa is real and I don’t care who says otherwise.     

I recently volunteered with Secret Families, an organization that was started by a family who decided they didn’t need materialistic items for Christmas and would rather help other families in need. The least I could say was that I was completely touched and humbled.      

These families were the most genuine I had ever seen. The children’s eyes were lit up with magic, and not the Santa is real magic, but the magic of being truly thankful.     

It really made me think, do I really need a new Michael Kors cross body purse? Do I really need anything I asked Santa for?     

We are all truly blessed. We are not swimming in money, but we have food on the table, a warm bed to sleep in and we do not worry about the things we need to survive.

It makes me sick, because of how big of a brat I have been over the year when families in our own communities may not have food or a bed throughout the year.      

I love that a family decided to stand up and make a difference to help other families get through the holidays. I think it is time for all of us to step up and start thinking of other people besides ourselves.         

Santa is real, maybe not in the magical fat man who slides down the chimney eats your food and leaves gifts way, but in the way that his kindness and selflessness towards other people. We all have a little Santa in us. We all want to help other people, because we have recognized what we have been blessed throughout the years.     

Santa should be real all the time though. People in need are not only hungry around the holidays, they do not just need help when it is Christmas, these people need us to help them put them back on their feet and this could be through the whole year, not just the last months of the year.    

I really needed this revelation of not being the only other person in the world. I think being a college student we get caught up in our own lives and are ignorant to the people around us. It was a nice reminder on why I am in a sorority, and why the organization I am apart of makes me bigger than myself, makes me questions my actions daily and makes me want to become better in the end. I am truly grateful for what I have been blessed with and I am so thankful that I was able to help other people this year and I hope you all get the chance to help too.  

Merry Christmas everyone!