Gene wants something that is so simple for Christmas

As we are running around these last few days before Christmas, shopping and ordering gifts and hoping that UPS can deliver what we've ordered in time, this story popped up on my news feed and it really made me take a step back and think about Gene Weittenhiller.

First off, I don't know Gene, never met him, but he certainly has had an impact on my holiday. Gene is a 72-year-old man that lives in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, and has been fighting cancer. He decided to stop chemotherapy in August and will live out his final months in the best way he can. Gene doesn't want a new car or the latest gadget for Christmas. He doesn't want a trip to an exotic destination that many may want if they only had a few months left on this earth. No, Gene wants something that is so simple, yet so personal and loving. Gene wants Christmas cards for Christmas.

He wants people to send him Christmas cards to enjoy before he passed from this earth. When I first read the headline, I thought, just Christmas cards, why wouldn't he want something that he's always dreamed of but never had? Then it dawned on me: Getting Christmas cards is what is important to him, and he should have what he wants in his final days.

Today, I am putting down the wrapping paper, setting the cell phone aside and writing a Christmas card to Gene Weittenhiller, a man who, whether he knows it or not, will touch millions of people with his story and will change how many of us look at Christmas from here on out. If you would like to send Gene a Christmas card, you can send them the address below. I hope you will take a few minutes and drop a card in the mail and make what very much could be his last Christmas (the doctors gave him only a few months to live) the best Christmas of his life.

Gene Weittenhiller

410 20th St.

Prairie du Sac, WI 53578