Well, it’s that time of year again. The requests from the family to get your Christmas lists in has begun. This year all I want for Christmas is:
- A goat
- 2 Chickens
- A sheep
- a donkey and
- Fresh Water
For many of us the real joy at Christmas time is in the giving not the getting. For a few years I have requested that instead of spending money on me that the family make a donation somewhere in my name. We live in a society where we tend to do everything to excess. Our family is very fortunate in that we don’t really want for anything and we tend to buy things as we need them. While I feel blessed that we are in a position to do this I do worry that our kids will just take this for granted and not understand that not everyone is as fortunate. I thought I would share with you something that I have discovered this year.
For me it truly is the giving that makes me smile. So what better way to double the giving than to turn your ‘getting’ into ‘giving’ ;0) While there are many different ways of accomplishing this, I received a catalog in the mail from World Vision that I thought was unique and fun. Something that the kids could have fun with and talk about how they gave Dad a goat for Christmas. You can see what I am talking about online at WorldVision.org.
The best gift I could receive for Christmas is the lessons we can teach our children and hopefully inspire them to really look at how they can help those who are less fortunate than they are. What do you and your family do at Christmas time to help those less fortunate?
Well said – while what we worked for has come true (our kids have more opportunities and access to more “stuff” than we did growing up), it is worrisome that they are living in a bit of a bubble.
At Christmas, we adopt a family through Junior Chamber of Commerce. We buy their Christmas dinner, gifts for the kids and we buy each member of the family a new pair of pyjamas as our tradition is new pjs on Christmas Eve. We then deliver to the family.
This time of year is a good time to bring up the conversation — but I would like to see more opportunities all year round to burst the bubble a bit more!
Great stuff Julie. Thanks for sharing. I missed this til just now. You are correct, the challenge now is to find a way to do it all year round.