'Tis (Always) the Season for Giving - Please send this little boy his last wish of cheery Christmas cards.

When winter comes around, the days are short and cold, misery seems more pronounced, your sniffles just won't go away, and it seems it's even easier to get sucked into your own vortex of me-ness - stress about work, money, family, health, relationships, anything and everything really. I don't mean to belittle these problems in any way - life can really be rough, on a day to day basis - but I know I at least can be guilty of some self-involvement every now and again.

Consider this quote from William Hazitt: "Fashion is the abortive issue of vain ostentation and exclusive egotism: it is haughty, trifling, affected, servile, despotic, mean and ambitious, precise and fantastical, all in a breath - tied to no rule, and bound to conform to every whim of the minute."

And here I am, writing about myself and about fashion everyday. Now, granted, I don't agree with this assessment entirely, though I acknowledge that fashion and the fashion industry can sometimes take on an air of haughtiness, flash, and exclusivity and when you get right down to it, it is about looks. But, as I wrote the other day, I think it is, or can be, so much more than that and that really is when you get to the difference between style and fashion, I think. As Yves Saint Laurent said, too, "Fashion fades. Style is eternal."

And to possess style I think is to possess an inner quality of beauty. This is not to say that giving should be viewed lightly, or as trendy, but simply that it is a beautiful thing to care for others. And it is something I want to work on being better at for the rest of my life. Life can be heartbreaking.

This season I am particularly reminded of this by an e-mail my mom sent me yesterday, which she received from some of my father's aunts and uncles. They have a friend whose five-year-old son is dying of cancer and doesn't expect to see this Christmas. But what he has asked for is Christmas cards, and no sad or get well cards.

Children never fail to amaze me - I think they have the most incredible way of revealing truth and strength and love - and this little boy, Noah, has simply stunned me. I find myself at a rare loss for words. So please, should you read this, send Noah a Christmas card. Make it funny, make him smile, make him laugh.

Send to: Noah Biorkman
11411 Fountain View Circle
South Lyon, Michigan 48178

Much love.