Sunday Snippet: Bob Hope on Christmas, adapted from image by Flickr user kevinspencer

“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?”

It’s such a simple concept. They say that there is something about the holiday season that has everyone is good spirits. That may be true, but who said that we have to wait for these last few weeks of the year to treat our fellow man with kindness, consideration, and love?

Bob Hope is easily one of the best known and most iconic entertainers of the last century, but that sentiment of loving others during Christmastime has been echoed through the ages. Jim Davis (via Garfield) taught us, “Christmas: it’s not the giving, it’s not the getting, it’s the loving. There, I said it. Now get outta here.”

In a slightly different way, Linus van Pelt tells us in A Charlie Brown Christmas that all the sad little tree needed was a little love. And it’s not just the little trees that need that love. The other reindeer used to laugh and call Rudolph names, but he ended up being the hero.

You may feel compelled to “celebrate” Festivus to counter the commercialism and relative non-inclusion of the season, but don’t forget that we could all use a little love… and not just during the holidays, but throughout the year.