LYNN – Christmas is considered the season of Hope and there is one Lynn mother who is hoping that the coming New Year is going to be vastly better than the last.The indomitable Erma Bombeck once wrote that there is nothing sadder in this world than to wake Christmas morning and not be a child – but there is. You could wake on Christmas morning as a child only to find that Santa missed your home, possibly because you don’t have one.Christina, mother of two young boys has had a tough but profound year.Last November the family lost everything they owned in a fire that also left them homeless.While life has been a challenge, Christina has remained remarkably upbeat.”As we work to build up what we’ve lost, we have found some very helpful people and have felt God’s blessings in many ways,” she wrote in a letter to Item Santa.In retrospect, Christina went on to write, she believes the fire may have even been a good thing.”We can see that it was God’s way of telling us to move on and that we needed change,” she wrote.But one thing she is not ready to change yet is her sons’ belief in the magic of the holiday season. Christina said it would be a blessing if, as in years past, she could watch her boys open a few presents. She would also appreciate a little help with some warm clothes to see them through the winter season.It is a small request given the burden she has carried all year.Another author, Harlan Miller, wrote that the likely reason we go “haywire at Christmas time with endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.”You could put your love not only into words but also into action by helping Christina and others like her realize their Christmas dreams by bringing them hope and even a little unrestrained silliness.It will make you feel better and it will most definitely make Christina and her boys feel better and, more importantly, it will give them a strong foundation to start another year despite their precarious predicament.And it would make waking up on Christmas morning so much sweeter for them and for you, even if you aren’t a child.Click here to download a coupon to make a donation to Item Santa. Mail it, along with your check, to The Item Salvation Army Santa, P.O. Box 951, Lynn, MA 01903.For more information, call the Salvation Army at 781-598-0673.