A Wondful Carol

A Wonderful Carol

by Kristy Hanson

On a windy December evening in 2022, I rushed around my apartment, bundling up in my winter gear. I was running late to meet friends for an early dinner before attending the opening night of A Christmas Carol at a community theater — I couldn't find my rear bike light!

I've had this bike light for years, even though I constantly misplace it. It traveled with me across the states when I rode my bike cross-country one summer. It even crossed an ocean with me when I moved from Minnesota to Amsterdam. It's survived my leaving it outside on my bike in all sorts of weather. Finally, I found the light on a dish by the door (the most reasonable place for it and therefore the last place I would've looked) and rushed out the door.

When I greeted my friends at the restaurant, one of them said, "From Thanksgiving to Scrooge!" At first, I was confused. It took me an embarrassingly long time to remember: the last time I had seen these friends was at a Thanksgiving dinner my partner and I hosted in 2021. We were sure the dinner wouldn't happen, certain that the COVID tests we required guests to take would all come back positive. But they didn't and soon we were all packed into the living room mixing cocktails and puzzling how we'd fit everyone at the dinner table.

At the end of Thanksgiving night, after more than a few bottles of wine, we went around the table, each person sharing what they were thankful for. As I'm writing this, I can't quite remember exactly what everyone said (I mean, it's been over a year, plus the bottles of wine). However, I do remember everyone gesturing at the group and mentioning gratitude for being together, for being able to be together.

At the restaurant, I understood why my friend mentioned Thanksgiving, but I was still lost on Scrooge. It wasn't until I settled into the stiff theater chair and opened my program that I slapped my palm to my head in realization.

I had mixed up A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life. While the stories are similar, the main characters are near opposites. Whereas Scrooge starts as a cold, selfish, money-focused man, George Bailey is kind and generous to a fault. But both men come to the same conclusion: how great it is to be alive, to share

our gifts and wealth with our loved ones and strangers, to appreciate what we have and give what we can.

After the play, we celebrated the opening night with prosecco and sparkling water, hugged, and promised not to let so much time pass before we saw each other again. On the way home, my friend's greeting kept repeating: "From Thanksgiving to Scrooge!"

I realized that I associate one holiday with gratitude and the other with giving. But that's too rigid. Both are about gratitude and both are about giving — maybe because the acts of giving and sharing gratitude are made of the same stuff.

If A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life teach us anything, as they're meant to do, it's that there's always something to be grateful for. There's always something to give. Joy is an essential ingredient of the good life.

In fact, recent studies demonstrate that these acts — gratitude and giving — are wonderful for our own emotional and mental health. Practicing and sharing gratitude can help us feel more positive towards others, ourselves, and our interactions. Volunteering time and/or money seems to have the same effect.

Intuitively, this makes sense. Helping build something good will strengthen our interpersonal relationships. Volunteering with local organizations can help us feel tied to our communities. Even walking a friend’s dog or volunteering to take that newborn for a morning not only helps that friend out, but there’s a good chance that dog is going to love you and that newborn will someday call you their favorite Aunt.

That bike light I went on about at the beginning of this story? A friend gifted it to me years ago. He wanted me to be safe while biking at night. Now, every time I crash through my house digging for it, I smile and feel connected to that friend, regardless of how long it's been since we’ve talked. The power of my gratitude hasn’t faded with time.

The ripple effects of a thoughtful gift are many, whether you are the giver or receiver. I use the word 'gift' loosely here. Gift as a cash donation, volunteered time, a small present for a loved one, a smile and wave for a neighbor. So why not share a bit of ourselves throughout the year? Connect with a neighbor or local organization and practice accepting care and generosity from others. If it makes you feel worse, by all means stop. But I'd guess giving and sharing gratitude will brighten your life, which is (I have to say) such a gift.

Want to help, but don’t know where to start? Contact your local school district or neighborhood church. Reach out to the municipality or check in with any of the following Twin Cities organizations below.

No Dog Left Behind

No Dog Left Behind is a volunteer-run organization that’s all about saving lives, one dog at a time. They educate dog owners and help pups find their forever families.

Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery

The Crisis Nursery offers free services to families and children with the goal to end child abuse forever. They believe one way to do this is to help create strong, healthy families.

MN Prison Writing Workshop

This organization works within the prison system to offer high-quality creative writing programs and “promote a vision of rehabilitation and restorative justice through art.”