It’s holiday season, and I just love it when everybody in my family has reasons to all get together, not that it takes a holiday to do that. I say, celebrate every day as if it were special, because it is. We have only so many days in this life, so we should smell the roses, and we should dance, and be thankful for every one of them!

Don’t be thankful only on Thanksgiving, and don’t give presents only on Christmas. Give of yourself regularly. That includes sharing ideas that you consider superb.

I want to share an extraordinary idea that I saw on Facebook last year with you now. It involves Santa Claus, and my family has adopted it, for whenever Izzy, who is now 4 years old, needs it. It’s a way of transitioning children from receiving from Santa to becoming a Santa, when dawning suspicion that Santa may not be an actual material being signals the child is ready. It’s a way that the construct of Santa is not a lie that gets discovered, but an ongoing series of good deeds and Christmas spirit.

The man or woman that shared the idea, said he or she takes the kids out “for coffee,” at which time the child is told, “You sure have grown this year. Not only are you taller, but I can see your heart has grown, too.” Then they give examples of the child’s empathetic, good behavior, and say, “I think you’re ready to become a Santa Claus.”

Conspiratorially, they tell the kids that some of their friends might have told them there is no Santa, and that’s because they are not ready to be a Santa yet, but, “You are!”

Then they ask the child to pick a neighbor and to find out something they need and then to get, wrap and deliver it, and to never let on where it came from.

It might be best for them to pick a curmudgeonly neighbor so they are able to get a message from the child’s kindness. In the story, the originator’s son picked a woman who was a “real pill” who would never even let any kids go in to retrieve a ball. The child noticed she needed some slippers, so he got her some and delivered them with a tag that said “Merry Christmas from Santa.” The boy was reportedly ecstatic when he later saw her wearing the slippers. But he didn’t tell anybody that he was the Santa.

Marcelle Hanemann is a news reporter for The Daily News. You can email her at marcelle.hanemann@bogalusadailynews.com or call her at 985-732-2565, ext. 301.