Un-Grinchitizing Christmas: The people who need it most

One of the reasons I started this little series was to force myself to focus on what was really important this season. I'm already stressing myself out over what to buy for whom, when I'm going to find time to hang ornaments on the tree and when we'll get around to taking the kids to see Santa. Let's not even start to think about the Christmas photo that should have already been taken. Cuz Will needs a hair cut, and the sweaters I want them to wear are dirty, and...and... Breathe. Breathe. In, out. In, out. That's a good girl...

I am blessed, though, to have these worries. They mean that I have lots of friends and family, a house (in which I have a supa-nice faux tree) and two lovely little boys. So our new tradition, beginning this year, is to pick a charity and donate to it a chunk of what we would normally spend on gifts.

My kids certainly won't notice that they didn't get an extra toy, my nephew won't care that he didn't get the pants that match the sweater, and my mother-in-law, well, she can get the cheap hand mixer.

I would do what the cool kids do, and donate this month's ad revenue to a charity, but, well, that'd just be sad. They'd take those few crumpled up dollar bills and press them back into my hand, touch my shoulder and say, "My, that's very sweet, ma'am, but why don't you give that change to the Salvation Army Santa instead? That's a good dear now." (Unless, you know, y'all start to love me and check my blog every day. Many times.)

Instead, I just wrote out a check and was thankful for my job. Community Projects for Seniors is a local non-profit organization that provides holiday meals and organizes fun outings for low-income senior citizens. In 1986 they served 200 Christmas dinners. Now, they serve dinner in the extended Southeastern Wisconsin area on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Its a small contribution, but every little bit helps.

Visit ZoeyJane to read her post on being part of the solution. She was the brains behind renaming this series "Un-Grinching". She's cool like that.

Why am I doing this?

Past "Un-Grinching posts":
Day 1: The Christmas Special
Day 2: Baking Cranberry Cream Cheese Bread
Day 3: Making paper snowflakes

Get my posts via RSS!