OUR TURN: HAS THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS BEEN LOST?

CHRISTMAS DELIVERS FRIENDS TO THE RESCUE
FROM: THE GREENVILLE (SC) NEWS [LINK]
PUBLISHED THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2005

We became unexpected recipients of "Extreme Makeover: Mauldin Edition" when last Thursday afternoon an oak tree created a new skylight in our dining room. Between 3:30 and 6:00, I discovered the damage, had a neighbor help move furniture and had eight friends help remove the tree and cover the house from additional damage while five more cleared our belongings from affected areas.

Although the old adage says that we learn who our friends are when they help us move to a new house, I think the same is said for those who help take a tree off of the old house.

We'll begin repairing the damage in a week or so, but I can't help think that aside from the friendship I share with those who so quickly helped my family in 30-something degree temperatures as the ice changed to rain, there's something inherent in the Christmas season that encourages us to help our friends, our families, our neighbors and even those we've never met.

Like the Griswolds in "Christmas Vacation," we have a hole in our house, but I'm going to be able to look up at the night sky after all of the festivities and say, "We did it."

We'll be at Mauldin Methodist on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Santa will come to Trey's house, but the reindeer will have to step lightly on the roof.

Have we lost the meaning of Christmas? I hope not. Who knows where we would be without our own little Christmas miracle.

Taft Matney, 33, lives in Greenville and is the president of a local public relations and governmental affairs firm. He can be reached by e-mail at taft@taftmatney.com or by phone at (864) 505-8866.