Thanks to Everyone: a video

My original story about Lidija is here. Please read it if you haven't. I want you to know more about this little girl.

I am surrounded by bits of wrapping paper still un-swept, by tablecloths besmirched with trifle, and the clutter of things that don't yet have a place. Christmas happened. We ate roast beef, and it was the best I'd ever had. My father came from California with his longtime girlfriend, spent five days here, and I've already driven them on to Santa Fe. Christmas came in like a whoosh and food went everywhere. Children smiled, or sulked, and dogs tried to steal meat and left wet tongue spots all along my floor. It was lovely.

This Christmas, though, was special because of Lidija.

Thanks to everyone, everyone close by in Los Alamos, and everyone on the internet who would not know the sound of my voice, much less the face of a little girl I know. All these people have been generous beyond what I could have imagined, and I want you to know that Lidija is following it all. She knows people have donated, reads the hugs on her donation page, and is excited about the possibility of seeing a specialist who can help her family figure out what causes her problems.

At this writing, $2,018 has been raised for Lidija on her Give Forward web site and another $283 in cash donations were given as well. We are nearly halfway to our goal.

I want to thank you all of you, and Lidija, for giving Christmas a meaning beyond gifts, beyond stories, and celebration and food, even beyond abstract ideas I have about spirituality and the light returning to the world. Thank you for giving Christmas hands and feet.