One of my fondest memories about my early Christmases is the magical, lovely lights everywhere. They transformed our front room.

I would sneak down stairs when everybody was asleep and sit there in the glow of the colored lights in windows, doors and, of course, the big tree.

You see, I always imagined it was heaven. Because of my youth, I didn’t think of death or illness. Rather, I felt loved and safe.

I always thought I could see all the people who were kind to us and others in this heaven. It was a lesson I learned early on.

Let me share some small and not so small kindnesses I remember.

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines kindness as, “a virtue of one of a sympathetic or helpful nature.”

Sitting here in my writing chair, I realized how many kind people there have been in my life.

I see it every day here at assisted living as one person who walks with a walker helps someone feeling short of breath.

One lady resident here lives in a wheelchair. Yet, after our exercise class every afternoon, she slowly goes around collecting the weights and bands we used. It is not easy for her but it’s one thing more she does for other people every day.

I know of an elderly lady who has a cat. Every afternoon after lunch she sits down in her big old rocker and her cat always jumps to her lap and settles in for a nap.

Before long, the lady lays her head back, begins a slow rocking and even hums a little, before nodding off herself.

I know many people sit in favorite rockers, hold a beloved cat in their lap and even nod off, but that’s not my story.

No matter what the lady has to do, she will not knock the cat off her lap as I’ve seen people do. She won’t even put him on the floor.

Short of a real emergency she will sit and rock until the cat’s nap is over and he jumps down on his own.

When I asked her about this she said, “Well, I don’t like anyone rudely waking me up. I can almost always do whatever I had planned when he wakes up. It’s a matter of priorities.”

It is funny the various reactions I get when I tell this story. Most people say it’s crazy.

The one I really dispute, “It’s just plain nuts to let a cat dictate your time.”

I think it’s wonderful.

I realize you cannot be late for work because your cat was napping. Nor can a mother with little babies wait to feed them lunch until the cat awakes. I realize this.

What I am saying is, if we do have the time, do we use it with kindness?

This story reminds me of Walt McFarland who lived in the deep woods of northern Minnesota.

He had to walk every day a long way for clean creek water to drink, cook and clean with.

Once when I was with him he rescued a couple of beetles struggling not to drown in the creek.

Most of us wouldn’t see the drowning bugs but Walt laid his bony long arm out over the water, gently scooped them up and lovingly placed them on the ground. That was using his time with kindness.

Kindness. It really is not a difficult thing to give.

I believe if we are unkind, it is because we don’t think what we do or say matters. It does matter.

We are so entwined in our own little world and all of the things we are expected to do that we just put ourselves in gear and go. The goal being to get to the other side and be able to check off our crowded mental lists.

We can’t and won’t stop to allow the cat to finish his nap or to rescue little beetles from drowning.

From here it gets more thoughtful.

What about a friend, husband, wife or child who needs to talk to you and you don’t have that on your list?

What if it’s a frantic phone call and all they want is for you to listen? What if you won’t take the time?

If you have a real deadline, do you explain and say you will call back and then call back when you promised? It is called kindness and it doesn’t cost a thing.

When Gene and I made a trip to the Mayo Clinic, we had to put our wondrous dog Guinney in a kennel while we were gone. We were gone two weeks and we missed him terribly.

Our friend Lauren met us at the airport but she had a precious surprise for us. Knowing how we missed Guinney, she went to the kennels and brought him to meet us at the airport.

I never asked her to do this but it meant the world to us. This is kindness.

I see kindness -— small and large — every day.

Whenever we go out someone always opens the door for me and I am grateful. It’s small, but it is kind.

I told a fellow resident this morning I loved her nice sweater and asked her if it was warm. I waited for her answer.

She told me she was happy I asked her. Little kindness.

All of these little simple acts of kindness remind me to give kindness to all I meet.

This is how Christmas makes me feel.

Just like the baby in the simple manger who was loved and safe, I too feel the same way when I went to my heaven every year in my living room.

The view from the mountain is wondrous.

Jean Brody is a passionate animal lover and mother. She previously lived in Winchester, but now resides in Littleton, Colorado. Her column has appeared in the Sun for more than 25 years.