Are you ready? Christmas is Holy. Ready, Set, Go.

He's got the IQ of a rabbit. Yes, but he's got the faith of a child. Simple. This is part of the conversation that takes place between the angels at the beginning of the movie, It's A Wonderful Life. Have you ever been praised for having the faith of a child? Have you ever aspired to have the faith of a child? Welcome back to Best Christmas Ever, where we are exploring 28 ways to make this an amazing Christmas for you, your family, and friends, and the strangers God brings into your life this Christmas. Number 26 is Movie Night. Have a movie night. Watch it alone or include everyone and anyone you wish.

But pick a movie this year and commit to watching that same movie every Christmas for the rest of your life. It is what is unchanging that allows you to make sense of change. Fixed points of reference, like the North Star, allow us to navigate through life. And something as simple as a Christmas movie can help us assess our lives and provide clarity about what matters most and what matters least. My favorite Christmas movie, like millions of other people, is "It's A Wonderful Life." We could have spent these 28 days just exploring the lessons from this extraordinary film. We could spend 100 days exploring the lessons from this amazing movie.

Here are 21 Lessons from “Its A Wonderful Life.” Number 1, George is the underdog. Mr. Potter is the top dog. We're all underdogs and top dogs in different ways and at different times in our lives. How we deal with each of these scenarios determines the character of a person. Number 2, George loved people. He was the living embodiment of a man of the people and a man for the people. Number 3, we are all having an impact. George had no idea how much good he was doing. The angel Clarence said, "Each man's life touches so many other lives. And when he isn't around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

We all forget our influence from time to time. In fact, most of us forget our influence most of the time. Number 4, George does at times feel sorry for himself. At one point, things get so bad that he says, "I wish I'd never been born." Are you feeling sorry for yourself this Christmas? Number 5, count your blessings. It is a simple, ancient path from discouragement and hopelessness to hope and the next step forward. Number 6, poverty has a thousand faces, and we are all called to help the poor. But you cannot help the poor, whatever their poverty, from afar. We are each called to have a relationship with the poor. As Joseph the Angel says, "If you're going to help a man, you want to know something about him, don't you?"

Number 7. This is what the richest man in town had to say about the best man in town. "So I suppose I should give the money to miserable failures like you and that idiot brother of yours to spend for me." It is often the people who appear to be miserable failures and idiots who make the biggest impact on the world. Number 8, your worldview affects the reality you experience. You remember that big old house? "Look at this wonderful old drafty house, Mary, Mary," George Bailey said sarcastically, but Mary replies, "It's full of romance, that old place. I'd like to live in it." George was seeing the current state. Mary was envisioning the future state. George saw a house. Mary saw a home. Number 9, prayers do get answered. Not always in the way you and I would like, but there is providence in that. As Garth Brooks notes, some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. Number 10, one of the clearest indicators of George Bailey's character can be witnessed when his brother wins the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was happier for his brother and that his brother had won than he would have been if he had won it himself. In a world that seems to be spiraling ever deeper into a pit of envy, let us never forget that the ability to delight in other people's successes, accomplishments, good luck, and blessings is a rare trait that should be fostered every chance we get.

Number 11, George is always helping other people. When we help others, there is always something in it for us, and that's okay. It may be as simple as the warm feelings helping others fills our hearts with. Accept that. Enjoy that. Bask in that. The angel Clarence asks, "If I should accomplish this mission, I mean, might I perhaps win my wings?" He wanted to do good for others, and he wanted good things for himself, and that's okay. But helping others requires sacrifice, sometimes dream-crushing sacrifice. George was all too familiar with the cost of helping others, but he often overlooked how helping others helped him and was blind to how helping others had transformed him into a fine human being. Number 12, life can be messy and difficult and disappointing. We hear the frustration of all this when George says, "Why did we have to live here in this messy, crummy old town?"

Number 13, who is my neighbor? I think this may be the central question of the human experience. I'm not certain, and I may see it differently in the future. But I have been pondering this for many years now, and what strikes me most is our desire to reduce the number of people we count as our neighbors. We have been doing it as human beings for thousands of years. This narrowing is an abdication of responsibility we have to our neighbor. It is never more starkly put than when the cranky, old, frustrated, unhappy Mr. Potter says, "They're not my children," of the children who will be affected by his foreclosures. Number 14. George's dad was also a good man, a quiet achiever. Where are the quiet achievers in the social media addicted society. He is a man of perspective. He knows what matters most. He says to George, "You know, George, I feel that in a small way, we are doing something important, satisfying a fundamental need. It's deep in the race for a man to want his own roof and walls and fireplace. And we're helping him get those things in our shabby little office." Number 15. George was his father's son. His father was a fine man, and he became a fine man. There is a cause-and-effect relationship here that our culture seems to have forgotten. There is no substitute for a father with character who cares. Number 16. Stick together. We can get through this thing, all right? We've got to stick together though. We've got to have faith in each other is what George says as he is rallying the town to avoid disaster. Number 17. George was always looking for the best in people, not the good, the best. Number 18. We all have moments of desperation. George says to Clarence the angel, "Help me, Clarence. Get me back. Please, God, let me live again." It would seem to me that we all need to learn how to live again and that there is no better time of year to do that than at Christmas. Number 19. George wanted to live a remarkable life, an extraordinary life. He wanted to do something truly unequivocal. When he was confused about what mattered most, he thought his life was painfully ordinary. But the reality was his painfully ordinary life was extraordinary. It was remarkable. It was unequivocal.

Number 20. Sometimes the richest people have the least money. Number 21. Success often comes disguised as failure, and the critics almost never know what they are talking about. In 1946, when "It's A Wonderful Life" was released, it failed at the box office. It was thrashed by reviewers, and it didn't win any Academy Awards. "So mincing as to border on baby talk," wrote The New Yorker. "For all its characteristic humors, Mr. Capra's wonderful life is a figment of simple Pollyanna platitudes," wrote The New York Times. The company that produced it's a Wonderful Life lost a fortune and went into liquidation. Both success and failure are illusions, and we should never let our critics direct our lives. He's got the IQ of a rabbit, yes, but he has the faith of a child, simple. This Christmas, let us all aspire to the simple faith of a child.

Wait, before you go, my dad has one more tip, and you're not going to want to miss this.

It's not easy to have a great Christmas in a world where everyone is striving for what isn't worth having. Welcome back to 28 obstacles that will prevent you from having your Christmas ever. Obstacle number 26 is negativity. Negativity is a major obstacle to having your best Christmas ever. This negativity enters into our lives in a number of ways. One enormous source of negativity in our lives is the news media. Take a break from reading, watching, and listening to the news for 48 hours and see how that impacts you. Do you feel more relaxed, more peaceful, more focused? Another source of negativity is the content we consume. Television shows, movies, books. Does the content you are consuming put you in a positive or negative space? Then there is the content of our daily conversations. Take note, are your conversations positive or negative? And of course, we have our own negativity. Are you aware of when you are in a positive or negative space? There are two other ways that we foster negativity that are worth mentioning here. Expecting the worst and not letting people change. Christmas is a season of hope. Foster hope in your expectations this year and let people change. People want to change, but very often it is those who are closest to them who hold them back or create obstacles to the change they desire. Let people change. How? Experience them as if you were meeting them for the first time this Christmas. Ask them questions as if for the first time. Their answers may surprise you. Their answers will reveal how they have changed and how they desire to change.

Christmas is a time of possibilities, and Christians are the ultimate people of hope and possibility. But remember, find your joy, guard your joy, follow your joy, not just happiness. It seems our culture has confused happiness with comfort. And following comfort will lead you to misery. Find your joy. Cherish your joy. Guard your joy and follow your joy. If you liked the video, you'll love my new book, Slowing Down to the Speed of Joy. The incessant speed of our lives isn't healthy. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. The ever-increasing busyness of our lives is insane. Everyone knows it. It's time to eliminate urgent, busy, and hurry from our everyday lives. It's time to slow down to the speed of joy. It's time to take our lives back. Right now, when you become a Dynamic Catholic Ambassador, we will send you a free copy of Slowing Down to the Speed of Joy. Click the button to join and get your copy today.

Have a great day.