'Tis the Season

...to be jolly!

And that's one of the things I love about this season. Most of the time, everyone seems to be a little bit happier. A little more gracious. More willing to think of 'the other guy' first.
Note: I don't do Black Friday. It would totally kill my perception of this season. *wink*

Just Sunday night, I saw some of this seasonal kindness in action.
We'd gotten home from a weekend at Brian's mom's house, and had lots of snow to shovel in the driveway. Brian and Matthew worked on it, but Josh had other things on his agenda and wasn't able to put in his time until later. (I offered to do the shoveling instead of making the menu/grocery list and going to the store. But my family said they'd rather eat this week. Go figure!)
Anyway, Sunday evening Josh went out to do his part of the shoveling. He was out there quite a long time. At one point, Brian suggested we form a search party and go check on him but, alas, we stayed inside where it was warm. And in a little while, the door opened and Josh came inside with rosy cheeks and snowy feet.
When we asked what took so long, Josh explained that he'd gone across the street to shovel our neighbor's driveway, too. Our neighbor is a "single" mom (She's married, but her husband lives in Korea. Long story.) and both of her children have graduated and no longer live at home. It used to be that her son dutifully shoveled the drive all winter long, but now it's up to her to get it done. Josh saw the need, and decided to meet it.
I was immediately delighted by Josh's kind-hearted action. But then I thought, Wait a minute! You did what??? My son - who regularly complains about chores, who argues about doing extra things just because I need a little more help, who often seems to think the world should revolve around himself - just helped our neighbor? Without being told to do so? How did that happen?

I asked him about it later, and told him how pleased I was to see him reaching out and serving someone else. Turns out, Josh just wanted to do a nice thing for our neighbor. He didn't want to be recognized for it, or rewarded. He just wanted to help.
I don't know if 'tis the season which has gotten into him, or if Josh is maturing and learning to see beyond himself, but I'll take it.
And I'll cherish this memory in my heart. *happy face*