Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all seem to jumble together. As a child, the time between these three holidays seemed to be forever. As we get older there doesn’t seem to be time to take a breath as one holiday rolls into another.
At Humanity House, it’s a very busy time of the year. Lighting the Iola and Humboldt town squares and running Santa’s Toy Shop take lots of planning and asking.
People say we dream big, too big sometimes. We’ve found that to make our dreams come true it helps to surround ourselves with positive people and have the dreams be about others.
So we believed that we could make a place where every child could have a magical Christmas. Over the past eight years Santa’s Toy Shop has grown from a tiny space with a Charlie Brown Christmas tree and dozens of cookies into a four-day event hosted by our community.
At the Toy Shop, families teach their children the joy of giving to others. Dozens of bakers bring mouth-watering cookies that are as delightful to look at as they are to taste. Friends and strangers stop in with Christmas ornaments and decorations that they want to share. People from other towns come in to make sure that families have food at Christmastime or that we have plenty of coats, gloves, and hats for kids.
Special friends take time from their lives to spruce up toys, decorate the toy shop, be elves, take photos, hand out cookies, and myriad other tasks so numerous that it can be mind-numbing. All of this is done simply to bring joy to others.
LIGHTING THE TWO town squares is also a dream that was spur of the moment. The lights are also a gift from the community to the community. Adopting a tree is such an act of kindness. Not only to those who live here, but also to those who are just passing through our little towns. Every single light is a sparkle that lets people know they are thought about during the holiday season. Watching families stroll through the square with children whose eyes are lit up with as much inner sparkle as there is outside is a true joy. Watching older folks drive around the square slowly with smiles on their faces as they look at the lights, is like bringing back the magic of their childhoods.
All of this happens because of your generosity. Humanity House is just a facilitator of good deeds. Without you, we are just dreamers.
Tree lighting will happen again in Iola on Thanksgiving evening. Humboldt will light its square on Nov. 29.
If you would like to adopt a tree on the Iola or Humboldt square, give us a call at 620-380-6664 or stop by the Humanity House office.
Kindness matters.
