Merry Christmas, everyone! When my kids get up on Christmas morning and race to the living room to see what is under the Christmas tree, presents are just about all they can think about. There are five of them, so they create a veritable tornado of wrapping paper. It's bananas.
As their father, though, that moment isn't so much about the presents I have under the tree because they're usually socks and underwear. The Christmas tree is about giving. My heart lights up with joy when I see that a present we've given has hit the spot. My joy comes from witnessing and sharing in their joy.
When I'm not disguised as a writer of flash fiction, I work at a non-profit whose mission is getting food to people who need it. When people, for whatever reason, can't get enough to eat, it can feel like the world is falling in on them. I have the privilege of raising the money that sends out the cavalry, putting food on their tables and in their bellies. It's kind of like working in Santa's kitchen. All the food we have is there to give away.
Whether the gift is greatly anticipated or deeply needed, Christmas joy reveals something of a paradox. It is better to give than to receive. People find greater joy in giving than they do in getting. The better the gift, the greater the joy. The more we give, the happier we become. It doesn't make sense, but it's true. Science says so.
One of my favorite writers once said that man only finds himself in the true gift of himself. That's what the writers at SciFi Shorts do every day. Like Christmas elves, we hole up in our workshops (or offices, or bedrooms) with our saws and hammers (or laptops and scratch paper) and set about crafting something to delight our audience and one another. Our raw materials? Ourselves. Our hopes, our dreams, our imaginary worlds, our sorrows, our fears, our sufferings... these are the wood, cloth, paint, and nails we use to build the stories that we wrap and tuck under the tree each day.
Our hope is that we will delight you. Or frighten you. Amaze you. Amuse you. Make you smile, make you laugh, make you cry, maybe even make you think... and like it. Like parents sitting on a couch on Christmas morning, we hope to hear some variation on, "This is the best Christmas ever!" That will give us greater joy than our readers might ever guess.
So if you're feeling a little short on holiday cheer this year, try giving some away. The gift is in the giving. You might find with twisted old Ebenezer Scrooge that what is given comes back one hundredfold, though never in the way you might expect. Or maybe you need to run to the Christmas tree with childlike anticipation, log into SciFi Shorts, and see what kind of goodies Santa has prepared for you. The elves there have been working like crazy to put just the right treat under the tree for you. We hope you like it.
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