Santa in the headlines

My good friend Lee sent me two letters-to-the-editor. They were published in his local newspaper on January 5.

One was written by a woman name Joyce thanking some unknown person for turning in her wallet that she'd dropped in a parking lot.

The headline read: "Santa stops in parking lot."

The second letter was from a couple, Bob and Pat, thanking an anonymous man in a white truck who stopped to change a tire for them on Christmas Eve.

The headline read: "Santa drives a white truck."

The letters made me smile.

First, they involved people who helped others.

Second, they involved people who said thanks.

And, finally, they linked my name to kind acts.

With so much attention given to wrongdoing, it's nice to see good deeds recognized in a public way.

It's also good to see that despite all the commercial hype that's grown up around Christmas and me, the basic message of goodness lives.

After all, what is Christmas but the celebration of God's act of generosity in coming into the world to help us all?