Holy Heavens, is it Tuesday again? Here in the US, yesterday was a holiday, which means that today was the first day back to work and school, which means that I’ve been cruising though all day today thinking it’s Monday, which means that it is now nearly dinner-time, I’m heading out the door in a little over an hour, and I haven’t even started to write my Elf Tuesday post! Yikes! So forgive me if this is a bit harried…

Before I announce today’s winner: A big warm hearty welcome to our newest elf, ravenpixie, who joined just yesterday. Welcome ravenpixie, please make yourself at home!

On other site news, have you seen the thank you page lately? There have been several lovely new thank you’s posted in the last week for Elf gifts. *Sigh.* The Elf posts and thank you’s just make my day, every single time. Thank you, Elves, for being so wonderfully giving. And thank you recipients, for being so generous in leaving your thanks!

Also, for anyone who didn’t see it, my ninth recipient (David a.k.a. “Torman”) left his thanks today on his post. His note was as characteristically gracious, kind, and generous as the man himself. Thank you again, to the wonderful man and wonderful author David McClain!

I also want to say — and this is important, so I feel awful that I’m about to rush this — that the earthquake in Haiti has been on my mind, a LOT. It’s so hard, I think, for any of us to wrap our minds around this level of devastation. And this might just be me, but I’m going to admit that I sometimes find it strangely difficult to keep giving in a time like this. On the one hand, I have to fight the urge to give all that I have, all at once, on an impulse. On the other hand, I have to fight a feeling of total helplessness, knowing that all the money I have put together would be nothing in the face of a disaster like this. A certain frustrated ennui can set in, and I angrily think: Why bother?

Indeed: Why bother at all? Why bother with any of this?

That’s when I always think of the story about the little girl throwing starfish into the ocean. Do you all know this story? I’ve heard it a million times in a million varieties, but I’m not sure who to credit. It goes something like this:

An old man walking along the beach at low tide, sees a little girl throwing starfish into the ocean, and asks her what she’s doing. “If I don’t throw them back in, they’ll die,” she says. The old man laughs. “But don’t you see that there are miles of beach, and starfish everywhere you look? You’ll work all day and never make an ounce of difference.” To which the girl picks up another starfish, throws it back into the sea, and says, “I made a difference to that one.”

So, sure, maybe buying a man a coffee didn’t help the Haitians. But it might very well have helped that man. And maybe it didn’t help his whole life, but it might very well have helped his day. And why shouldn’t that be enough? After all, doesn’t even one small day in the life of one small person matter, perhaps very much?

I think so.

And so, I hope that all the Elves reading this today feel bolstered that what you are doing matters. One coffee, one troll bead, one dinner, one cookie, one library fine, one gift card. These things matter. I think they matter very, very much.

So, with that, this week’s $50 winner is…

dumdumdumdumdum…

Bliss!

Congrats Bliss!

And Happy Elfing, everyone. May I just end with one last HUGE thank you to all the Elves who are posting and commenting on this site: Truly, YOU are the ones who are making this such a very special and wonderful place. I am thankful to you all, beyond words.

Love, luck, and magic, coming your way!