​All three of our gate attendants were unusually cheerful.  One was singing a familiar Christmas jingle over the intercom and she got a good chuckle from the crowd waiting to board.  The other two played recorded Christmas songs over the intercom.  If you fly often, you know that this is not a common occurrence.  In fact, ours was the only gate playing any Christmas music at all.  Other airline employees walked past our gate with a slightly confused look on their faces.  Obviously this was just a fun and silly way for our gate attendants to spread some holiday cheer.  People can sometimes get grumpy while flying and this seemed to lighten the mood a bit.  

​Their silly gesture made me think about how we should act regarding Christmas.  It can be so easy to make a ton of holiday plans and obsess over perfecting all of the details for each gift and holiday party.  As Christians, though, we know the true reason that Christmas is so important.  It’s not just about seeing family and friends or getting some time off of work.  It is a day we set aside each year to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Without Him, there is no cause for celebration; there is no reason to be overjoyed.  As we go about our typical holiday traditions like wrapping Christmas presents or laying out cookies and milk for Santa, we must not let those things consume our focus.  Holiday traditions are wonderful things to take part in but we cannot simply go through the motions just to check things off of our lists.  We should be giddy to celebrate Jesus’ birth!  We should be overflowing with joy and excitement to share the spirit of Christmas with anyone and everyone who will listen.

​I’m so glad I got the chance to intern here at New Beginnings.  This was one of the best experiences in my life.  On top of graduating and accomplishing my goals, I got to meet wonderful people!  The staff and residents welcomed me into the home and made me feel comfortable! New Beginnings is a great program and offers a lot of great opportunities and resources for the moms.  I will always keep with me the memories at New Beginnings from the group nights and dinners to attending church together monthly.

​The care that New Beginnings shows to the resident is so wonderful.  Being a part of a team that’s caring and loving, helps develop a great atmosphere!  New Beginnings has not only helped me graduate, but has helped me get closer to God while assisting the residents.  The mission behind New Beginnings is awesome!  In order to grow, you need all the support you can get and New Beginnings does a great job at offering that.  The residents and staff encourage me to keep going in my career path and that has helped me a lot.  Being that I am a single mother myself, I understand the residents and encourage them to keep going! So while I’m here helping them, they are also helping me. I never expected my life to end up where I am now but this is all from God’s plans.  His plans are to prosper us and help us grow into wonderful people!  I will dearly miss everyone here at New Beginnings!