As a group, we can choose to share the magic of Christmas, in December and all year round, to make people happy and make a difference in their lives.

I believe little things we do can make a HUGE difference.

That is the power of we and the theme of this year’s Blog Action Day – which happens to be today 🙂

Can our love of Christmas really make a difference?

I think we who love Santa and Christmas can make a difference to the world.

And even if each of us makes small changes, the total could end up being spectacular and absolutely world-changing.

Just making people smile can make a difference

making a child smile is what we aim to do

Whether it is sharing a lovely story (like so may people do here I’m pleased to say), giving a special Christmas gift, putting out Christmas decorations and simply smiling at a stranger, being able to make someone else smile is a great power we all have.

You never know the impact of that smile either. Maybe you make a sad person smile so they are more productive or nicer to people that day, maybe you just inspire them to smile at others, maybe you are the difference between them feeling alone and worthless and feeling ok.

Here are a few ways to make people smile about Christmas and Santa, but I’d love you to share more ideas as a comment…

• put up Christmas decorations that people can see outside your house
• put up fun or unexpected decorations (such as legs sticking out of a chimney or tinsel forming a shape)
• make a Christmas resource and give it your clients – maybe a shopping list template, an email message, a card holder, a website graphic, a pattern for a Christmas craft or a bookmark
• include a fun token with every Christmas gift you give this year (eg a funny bookmark, a Santa magnet)
• make the effort to see people during the year, not just at Christmas events
• wear a Santa hat or Santa earrings, maybe even a Christmas-themed top
• do some baking (at home or at the office) to ge that cinnamon scent wafting around
• SMILE!

Inspiring others

Being generous and kind often inspires others to be generous and kind.

Think of the movie ‘pay it forward’ where I do something incredible for you on condition you do something incredible for others.

I recently heard of someone who mentored a new person in his industry – on condition she handed the information over to someone else new later on.

Consciously looking for ways to be generous, as a group, will make our world better. Not only have we helped some people directly, but hopefully we have inspired them to also be generous and given people hope and belief in other people.

Santa in a dress?

To put some of our belief into action, I’m going to put Santa into a school dress.

What on Earth am I talking about, you ask.

Well, there is fundraising campaign called Do it in a dress that I think is a very worthwhile cause.

Girls in Sierra Leone often don’t get much formal education or opportunity. In fact, they are more likely to be assaulted than go to school which is awful.

Do it in a dress is an orgnaisation that is raising money for these girls to go to school.

So, if lots of people get together and donate a little here or there, we can get some Sierra Leone girls to school – making a huge difference to their lives and the lives of their families and communities.

If we raise enough for one girl to get to high school ($150), we’ll add a graphic of Santa in a dress to our site.

If we raise enough to give any girl access to school for a year ($240), we’ll make that image our Twitter profile for 2 weeks and add it to our Facebook cover image indefinitely.

To donate, simply visit our Do-it-in-a-dress profile page and pay online. To make a bigger difference, share the link to this page or our donation page with your friends so we can get even more girls to school.

Together, we can make a difference and bring ‘Christmas’ to those girls’ lives.