My Dad was pumping gas at a local convenience store one night last week when he heard a voice from behind his right shoulder, call, "Hey Mister." Dad turned his head and saw a man coming toward him from out of the darkness. As the man drew closer to the light, Dad could tell that his clothes were rumpled and that he hadn't shaved in at least a week.

Dad didn't feel threatened by the approaching figure, but the man's sudden appearance had made him somewhat uneasy. The man stopped a few feet away from where Dad was standing, looked him in the eye, and in a voice strained with emotion he admitted to Dad that he didn't think anybody liked him.

"Mister," the man said, "I'm a Vietnam Vet with no friends and I don't think anybody cares about me." Dad was somewhat taken back by what the man had just confided to him. He attempted to comfort the man by assuring him that people did like and care about him.

"No, they don't," the man insisted, "I'm all alone in this world." Dad couldn't tell if the man's unusual behavior was just his technique for swindling some spare change or if he was being serious.

Eventually, the man did ask Dad if he could give him a few dollars so he could get something for dinner. Dad hesitantly reached into his front pocket, pulled out a $5 bill and handed it to the man. Then, something out of the ordinary occurred at those gas pumps. The man wrapped his arms around Dad's shoulders and hugged him. Dad, caught off guard, didn't know what else to do but to hug the man back. They stood there for a half minute or so locked in that hug before the man released Dad, said goodbye and went on his way.

Dad shared this story with me yesterday over the phone. When he finished, he paused for a few seconds. Then he said, "You know, that's what Christmas is all about. People reaching out to people, no matter what the circumstances might be."

Each year, Dad tells me a story about what makes Christmas special for him. One year, his story might focus on a visit to a local rest home or hospital and the next year he'll talk about helping a family in a third-world country he learned about at church. Dad doesn't give me these examples of good things that have happened to him in past Christmases to bring attention to him. Often, the people who Dad reaches out to do more for him than he could ever do for them. Their present to him is their unyielding love and kindness. What could possibly be a better gift to receive during the Christmas season than love?

I hear a lot of people complaining these days that "Big Brother" is threatening to take Christmas away from us. They rant and rave about how some big discount store has banned their employees from wishing their customers a "Merry Christmas" and according to them, somehow this is suppose to be the beginning of the end of Christmas for all of us. I don't know if their complaints about the stores are valid or not. The fact is I don't care. I don't agree with these conspiracy theories anyway. I think they're rather silly.

Christmas today is just as it always has been. It's what we make of it, not what someone else makes for us. The true meaning of Christmas can be found in a simple hug between strangers and no one can take that away from us.