Finding the joy

By Natalie Vela

Christmas can be a sad and difficult time of year if you're alone, lonely, or have been through a recent heartbreak.

Here are some tried and proven tips to help you make it through the season of joy without feeling like an outsider:

- Give to those less fortunate than you. Volunteer to serve meals at a soup kitchen or orphanage on Christmas Day. Make an effort to converse with and listen to those you're serving. Taking time to appreciate them and the struggles they've been through will not only give them a lift, but will help you realize how blessed you really are.

- Don't wait for someone to invite you for Christmas dinner.--Find someone who really needs to be invited, and invite them. Make it your goal to make Christmas special and memorable for them, and happiness will find you.

- Share with someone the real meaning of Christmas. Whether it's someone who's unfamiliar with the story, or someone who's heard it many times before, reviewing the story together of how God gave the gift, His Son, will help put things back into perspective. God was separated from His loved one at Christmas too, and He did it so that we could be together with Him forever.

- Give of your love to those you are around, and watch the joy come flooding in on you!