Paris Kefalas' 2013 Christmas Letter

To  say that life keeps getting better as time goes by would be an understatement. There has never been a time better than the moment. The past is full of good memories and some bad, but the bad seem to become less and less memorable. The good and the recent, or the fondest seem to be all that matters. I have learned that focusing on the positive and minimizing negative has made all the difference.

It's hard to eliminate all the information of what's wrong with the world; It's even harder to turn off the constant barrage of media that is geared toward shock and scandal and death and destruction.  There are good things going on. Discoveries, medical breakthroughs, teachings, advancements every day that are overshadowed by what many people are taking in as our media opiate.

My teaching comes from my work; teaching employees how to be successful no matter where they have come from. There still is life in this country and I see it every day; people that have absolutely nothing in common working together every day toward a common goal. The same diverse group of people that erected this country, that had dreams of success and raising their children to be successful still exist. They still get up at 430AM, some drive, some take the bus, but there are a lot of people that are good in this world; contrary to what our televisions tell us.  Some work while the rest of us sleep, some while we have our weekends and some on holidays.

My teaching goes to my family, trying to raise children to be respectful and caring and not focusing  on their shortcomings. Paying attention to their needs rather than my own for the first time in my life. Teaching them and reiterating daily how fortunate we all are.

My learning is a daily routine as well. I learn from my wife, my families, my kids, and my employees. I learn more from these people more than I learn from all other sources combined; because you learn life. Life cannot be taught-it happens by living it through the good and the bad and everything in between. The thrill of bringing life into the world and the sometimes overwhelming feeling that you are not as perfect as you thought.

This morning Carrie and Alex came to breakfast with me where I eat with two older men. I only know them by their last names, Smith and Edelmann-I think. Mr. Smith was telling us of Christmas in the depression era when two bananas were bought as a holiday desert. His mother (of eleven children) would slice the bananas into a jello and that was their Christmas desert. And Carrie's grandmother would have an orange in the stockings; simple things such as fruit were their presents. Mr. Edelmann got a radio flyer wagon one Christmas, not knowing that his father bought it for him to haul potatoes into the house from their farm.

There are good stories and memories everywhere when one really listens and takes the time to learn from people; and there are plenty of good people  who are eager to teach us as long as we take the time to learn!

 I thank each and every one of you for giving me something that I can take with me for the rest of life. Not only my life, but things that can influence my children's lives, and their children. For providing me life, happiness, support, candor, hard-talks, fights, laughs, cries, but most of all love. In a world that spins so quickly, memories, lessons, and love are the only things that stay with you for your life. I love being alive, being a father, being a husband, teacher, student, but most of all life.

Focus on life and the things that make you happy this holiday season.  Every day is a new opportunity to touch someone's life; remember many times the biggest impact on life comes from the smallest gestures like two bananas and an orange.