I love presents! I bet you love presents too! My friend Mary might love opening presents more than she likes what she gets. Though I like to think she likes the stuff too.
So what shall we do this Christmas? Have you already started collecting presents? Me too. In fact I’ve been stockpiling web addresses all year. And I’m about to make out my list so I can begin in earnest.
There’s no stopping Christmas present giving-and why would you want to? But here’s the thing. How about giving a gift which go to someone else entirely?
Can I give you a gift certificate for a donation to the charity of your choice? That way you, sort of, get to pick out your gift. And hey Mary-I could still wrap it up in a lovely package. Well, OK, as much as I ever do a good wrapping job. My sister Sharon is the real Queen of that.
Years ago my brother Kit and his family gave me a goat. Well not a real goat, just a picture of one on a card from the Heifer Project. I thought it was a great way to get out of picking out, wrapping, and mailing presents. So I’ve given them bees, knitting, and sheep ever since.
Now, maybe more than in many years, life really is getting harder for lots of folks. People you and I probably can’t even imagine. Hell, I think I’m deprived when I can’t get a wifi signal on my laptop.
So this year I’m going to go ahead and buy all those presents and wrap them haphazardly as I always do. But when you unwrap them, some might be livestock-or a gift certificate to give money to a charity. I hope I get a few of those too.
ever since the kids became adults we started celebrating karma Christmas. No individual gifts expected. Instead at Christmas dinner we would tell how we spent the gift $$$. Some ordinary donations to charities, some different like buying teeth to help a friend's son-in-law get a new job with his new smile. The amounts never are mentioned or matter, the point is using our budget to help others. Your links offer many new possibilities.
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