My new friend Santa McMulrick is one of those people who believe that anything worth doing is worth over-doing. :-)

One of my simple pleasures is knowing that something has made a difference in someone else's life, made the world a better place, or put a smile on someone's face. Santa McMulrick's gifts did all three. I asked my Secret Santa to make a donation to a cause they cared about and tell me about it (vicarious good deeds). My Santa was amazing.

Three different charities benefited from Santa's kindness. The charities were all ones that have important missions: literacy, helping children, and working to stop a hideous disease.

Story Shares (https://www.storyshares.org/) works on the teen and young adult readers: enticing them to the world of words, helping build literacy skills, and making sure that young people without the financial resources can read relevant and interesting topical stories.

Since Santa McMulrick and I live in the same state, the second charity my Santa helped is local to us: Cradles to Crayons (https://www.cradlestocrayons.org/). "Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school and at play. We supply these items free of charge by engaging and connecting communities that have with communities that need."

And because Santa knew that two people I love were victims of motor-neuron diseases (my father and my younger sister), the ALS Association (http://www.alsa.org/), which works to provide help for ALS sufferers and funds for research into a cure, was also on the gift list. If you live, as Santa McMulrick and I do, in Massachusetts, you know about the Ice Bucket Challenge. But you also know about how horrific ALS and its related diseases are, and I'm honored that a donation went to them in my name.

So here's what a simple pleasure should be: something someone does for you that makes you feel good. And the missions of these three organizations make me feel pretty wonderful.

Thank you, Santa McMulrick. This is the finestkind gift, and I'm glad it made us both happy! (You totally rocked it!)