Sometimes ya never know

Ran into a neighbor at the gas pumps today. We chatted for a few minutes about the usual stuff. Details aren't necessarily important, but she related something to me that we had done for them over the course of several Christmases years ago when their kids were little. She said her grown daughter still remembered that, and acted on it this year. We were just being neighborly. We like them. It was fun. It was no strain to do that with them those years. I was amazed to hear that the daughter remembered that, and that she acted on it, this many years later. We're talking about single digit number of years ago, not decades or anything, just so ya know.
As I drove off on my way to the store, I thought, wow. We did that, and then she did this, and it keeps going. I'm not bragging here, just relating a story that came back around. Epiphany was this week. History tells us that the Wise Men didn't exactly show up the night after Jesus was born. The Magi showed up several months later. This tells me that the Christmas Spirit should last awhile after the lights and tree come down, the cookies and pie are all gone, and the presents have found a permanent place in the house. Just the simplest gesture, with really no specific intentions other than some Christmas cheer, has acquired a life of its own. I have a sense that stuff like that happens all over, but in a day and time when things are so tight and stressed, and people seem to be so busy, and especially after what happened today, its reassuring to hear something good once in awhile. Peace on Earth!