My father likes to say, “Everything happens for the best.” He’s had five major surgeries, one of them for cancer, in five years. And he still says that.

One day I mean to ask him what he took from each of his surgeries that was for the best. In the meantime, there’s something indomitable about that kind of spirit. Father still does volunteer work, still works out at the gym. He whistles and sings, tells jokes, and sends funny stories over e-mail. This month he celebrated his eighty-second birthday.

Dad and my husband are alike in their outlook on life. They have a curiosity about the world, an eagerness to see what new invention, what fun thing, lies around the corner. More than that, they have kind hearts, a willingness to extend a hand to a neighbor, to help a friend or a stranger in need.

It’s an attitude I should like to carry into the new year. I will make more time for friends and more time to be a friend. I will try to carry the Christmas spirit with me year round, for Christmas is not what parties we attend or what gifts we give and receive. Christmas is a warmth, a generosity of spirit we keep forever in our hearts.

So let me not bemoan my health at Christmastide. I will enjoy the lighted drummer boys who stand at the gate of a neighbor’s house. I will savor the last of my mother’s delicious stollen bread and look forward to her spritz cookies on Friday. I will delight in the presence of all my family members who, somewhat worse for the wear this challenging year, are intact and happy to celebrate the season together.

Merry Christmas Everyone!