Sometimes it's hard to maintain the holiday spirit. We've had it force fed to us through the media, the background music in stores - every time we turn around we're supposed to be brimming with goodwill and peace…

It can be done, even with credit card statements and overdue bills hovering in the air like the smell of spiced cider. The best way to get the Christmas spirit is to catch it from someone else, and the best place to find that someone else tonight is at the Kiwanis Community Building.

The annual Andalusia Community Christmas begins tonight for families in need, but it began much earlier in the year for others. The civic and other groups who have worked together for months have, have created a powerful example of Christmas spirit - tangible proof that giving is better than receiving.

Keep in mind that the men and women who put the Community Christmas together, rounding up clothes and toys and other items for more than 500 children, are all employed. If they are not working in an office or a factory, they are working within their won home, with their own personal hectic holiday schedule. And yet each one has taken some of the precious time and dedicated it to a greater cause than their own, to a greater purpose.

This is what the Christmas spirit is. It is setting aside the aggravating minutia we all deal with as the holidays approach, and remembering there are others out there with more aggravation, more problems, and more sorrow. It is not only remembering those in need, but doing something about it.

Stick your head in at the Kiwanis building some time tonight, and watch the community spirit in action, and watch Christmas come to 500 children who might not have had one at all. They will remember their Christmas presents - and their Christmas pasts in Andalusia, where they knew a community cared.