Gingerbread Generosity Brings Happiness to Holidays

December 19, 1999

The Boston Herald

She humbles me. Here I am racing around trying to the find perfect gift for everyone on my Christmas list, running here and there, running around in circles really, because what exactly is the perfect gift?

Dottie Kelly knows.

When the first package arrived, I didn't know her. But she definitely knew me. There among soft cotton were five ready-to-hang-on-the-tree gingerbread people, plus a dog biscuit, my family in flour and sugar. I was touched and more than a little awed because my gingerbread people - when I attempt to make them - have shrunken heads and missing limbs. Dottie's were Candy Land perfect. I loved them and hung them high on the tree so the dog wouldn't eat them. And after Christmas, I set them on the bookshelf because I couldn't bear to put them away.

I didn't expect cookies the next year, but they came again and they've continued to come. Last year, she even added a son-in-law to our cookie family. Dottie Kelly has made more than 480 cookies this year. She continues to do it because people love them. What's clear is that she loves people, too. For these are things you can't buy in a store. These are things that have no price. These truly are gifts of the heart.

There are so many people like Dottie Kelly who give from their hearts.

I think of all the people who send family photos with their Christmas cards and the people who write notes on their cards. These seem like pretty ordinary things. But they take time and effort,  and what better gifts are there? Imagine a Christmas without them. Or without music. Without the piped-in kind on the radio, the old tunes we're so used to. Imagine Christmas without church choirs. All those men and women and boys and girls who show up for practice week after week,  with extra practices thrown in around the holidays, when everyone else is baking or partying or shopping. And there they are en masse on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, in the choir loft or on the altar, when they could be home opening presents with their families.

These people give a great gift of time and love.

I think of the laughter and understanding and hope that the Rev. Bill Coen gives every time he's on the altar. And the insights of Dean Robert Thornburg, whose sermons from Boston University's Dean Chapel are on the radio. Imagine a Christmas without these people and without the continuing efforts of the clergy to make God real for us.

I think of the men and women, and there are so many, who take the time and go to the expense of making their homes beautiful for other people. They decorate not just the insides of their houses, which they can see, but the  outsides, too,  with garland and lights and wreaths and sleighs, lighting up December nights and making the dark festive for strangers.

I think of the volunteers at the Retreat House in Easton signing up to cook for people they don't know and the volunteers at My  Brother's Keeper lugging furniture up flights of stairs, delivering food and presents and hope.

I think of Roberta Guertin and all the care packages she sends to people she hardly knows;  and Gerald Riding,  who shares his poems;  and Marie Litchfield's thoughtful cards;  and all the people who take the time to remember other people in these meaningful ways.

I think of Al Bosanquet who used to grow flowers for every child at Trinity Episcopal Church many years ago. He grew them from seed and gave them as gifts every Easter. This was an amazing gift of love.

I think of the Thomases,  who opened their home on Christmas Eve for so many years, not for a raucous celebration but for a true family Christmas, for that's how they  made everyone feel - like family.

I think of all the good people who entertain at nursing homes, the folks at the Mintz Levin law office who crocheted more than 100 lap robes for people in nursing homes, the people who serve all year long, police and firefighters and nurses and EMTs reaching into their hearts and pockets to give even more.  And I think of some wealthy people I know who give and give but do not want it known.

Giving isn't limited to Christmas. It doesn't stop when Christmas is over. People are constantly giving to one another. Al watches my dog. Katherine bakes me cookies. Tom Gorsuch, no matter what the season, gives most of what he makes away.

But it's at Christmas that we pause and think about these gifts and all the givers who truly do make the world a better place.