This is always the favorite time of the year for me. I love seeing everyone get into the holiday spirit and let up on the pressure of business for a minute.  It truly is a time to put differences aside and appreciate your loved ones and friends and how important they are to your life.  HUG someone, if not everyone!!

And, NoradSanta or GoogleSanta?  Which are you siding with?!  Personally, I think Google is keeping much better pace with Santa’s deliveries!

This year is extra special and extra challenging.  We continue with our country’s recession and have the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and the Sandy Hook shootings, among many heartbreaking experiences.  I personally want to extend my apologies to anyone named Sandy. That may sound trite, but there are so many unsung and quiet people we don’t realize suffer from the tragedies that affect us all (everyday).  It must NOT have a good year to be named Sandy through no fault of their own.  And, our hearts and prayers continue to go out to the families and victims who have lost so much in these senseless tragedies.  We will remember and we will not let you die in vain.

That is my point.  Here on Christmas, we are rightfully celebrating our families and friends.  The ones who keep us going throughout the year in the background.  No one knows the trouble we deal with day-to-day, the ongoing struggles or worries that weigh on our minds.  But, we all have them and they are all important.  And, the holiday season is one time of the year we can all come together to appreciate we are vulnerable, fragile, human, and we all want the same thing.  The love and respect of those that matter to us and to have a peaceful and meaningful life.  Santa has a way of doing that for all of us in one moment.  It’s a common love that we can all wrap ourselves around — if just for a brief moment in time.

My dear colleague and fellow @rAVeBlogSquad member Joel Rollin’s inspired me as a Woman in AV this holiday season.  He wrote a moving blog about what inspired him to join AV as a young man.  This Crystal Radio, which may end up challenging me beyond what I have EVER known.  I wrap in my mind, it’s just a board, wires, metal, and screws — what’s the big deal.  I can get an AM station if I do it right!!  BUT, without, the right education and guidance of someone like Joel, it is just a piece of scrap material that will never go anywhere.

Because this is the awesomest “toy” that any kid could have and he is wise to know we need to get it in more hands of our young men AND women in the future, as he has had in the past.  What he didn’t tell me is this thing is NO JOKE. I looked online until I found the exact model that he put in his blog as an image.  RIGHT.   Well, seven pages of instructions later and needing soldering, lacquer, and dikes, I know that it is more important than ever that we foster the relationship between a father and a daughter to help her grow as a women who an truly compete with a man.  That is what has been missing and what I am so proud of the Women in AV for encouraging and will continue to in the future.

You see, whatever women say, we can only get so far on our own.  And, why would we want to when we have men like Joel and Gary Kayye to help us be better than what we can be on our own. We don’t give men enough credit for how they help us and support us to keep achieving milestones that were it not for them — we wouldn’t achieve.. I was SO excited to get my Crystal Radio to build.  But, I know that I can not get a radio station to sound from it without the help of someone like Joel to show me how.

Merry Christmas to everyone and HAPPY HOLIDAYS for all celebrations!!!  Let’s not forget the true spirit of this season is to love, appreciate, and give.  It’s not our fancy and expensive gifts, it’s the time and sharing you spend with your families and friends.

And, what is a “toy” you think we can make certain our kids have at their young age, whether a girl or a boy — they should try it at least once!!?  Please, let it not be as hardcore as Joel’s, I should expect nothing less than the best! http://www.lessmiths.com/~kjsmith/crystal/dunwoody.shtml