Happy Thanksgiving!

While Christmas music has been playing on the radio for nearly a month now, and the stores have been steadily filling with Christmas decorations and sales for just as long, Thanksgiving Day for me has always marked the true start of the holiday season.

No matter how old I am, for me there is a special joy in getting out of bed in time to turn on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The bands, the floats, the performances, - they are as much a part of Christmas for me as elves, tinsel, reindeer, cookies, and ornaments.

For years, the parade was followed by a viewing of my all-time favorite Christmas movie, the iconic classic,  It's a Wonderful Life.

The first year that NBC didn't air it right after the parade, I felt like an integral part of my holiday was missing.

Since then, I have acquired my own copy of It's a Wonderful Life, and while the rest of the world watches the dog show or football, I will once again be visiting George and Mary Bailey in Bedford Falls.

The themes contained in It's a Wonderful Life are ones we can take to heart every day of the year. Every one is important, and we never know who's life might be changed because of one random act of kindness.

That is what we at Christmas Wishes are doing - giving a bit of your heart to lift someone else's  - one donation, one story at a time.

So this Thanksgiving, while you are counting your blessings, perhaps find the time to bless someone else with a donation to The Christmas Wishes Toys4Tots charity drive. You'll be blessed in return - not only with the full-heart feeling of giving

but with the Christmas Wishes story compilation that our tenacious elves are busy scribing.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.