An Attitude of Gratitude

Everyone gets stressed this time of year. There are lots of gifts to shop for, purchase, wrap and ship. Parties need to be planned and attended. Holiday cards must be selected, stamped and mailed. It's far too easy to end up overwhelmed and sometimes even unhappy, feeling like the holidays are a chore and there's simply not enough time in the day. 

I know my holiday season is far less stressful than many of my friends. I don't have a big shopping list, don't need to ship presents and usually try to take off over New Year's and go somewhere warm. I'm lucky, I know that. I'm also blessed: My family is healthy and happy and out of harm's way.

Far too many of our local military families can't say the same. This past weekend I happened upon an inspiring segment on CBS Sunday Morning about Operation Gratitude.

Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000 care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. service members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to Wounded Warriors recuperating in Transition Units. This incredible group of volunteers works to show others how much they are truly appreciated – to lift morale and perhaps bring a smile to a service member’s face.

Founder Carolyn Blashek started Operation Gratitude as a way to say thank you to troops serving overseas. Since 2003, volunteers have shipped more than 730,000 packages to service members deployed overseas.

This organization didn't start out as a charity, a force in the non-profit world; this was just a single person wanting to do something nice for someone else and show appreciation for how lucky she considered herself.

You can watch the entire CBS segment here.

For me, I know that if I start to feel stressed about all the things I have to get done this holiday season, stories like this help me pause and remember how lucky I am to even have the opportunity. Happy Holidays!