The Spirit of Christmas

Sure, getting gifts at Christmas is fun. But real joy comes from giving presents, especially to those who may not be as fortunate as you.  I try so hard to impress upon my kids that they are so very lucky.  While there is always going to be someone who has more, they are blessed beyond measure.  I don't want them to ever forget that.  Yes, they have more toys than they can play with, but I want their feet firmly on the ground.  This holiday season, I have had lots of opportunities to practice what I preach, and I encourage you to do the same!

 

At church, we participated in Christmas in Mexico.  We bought items, some practical and some fun,  and filled shoeboxes for a boy and a girl.  The boxes were then wrapped and flown to Mexico to share with over 7000 kids.  Wow!  What an impact one church can have when everyone comes together.  I love being a part of something bigger than our little community.  It feels good to make a difference.

 

I headed up the a coat drive at their school this year and was so pleased with the results.  We collected 260 coats to donate to the Warm Coats and Warm Hearts Coat Drive!  That's a lot of people who won't be as cold this winter.  Jackson and Lila went with me to drop them off and got to see the amazement on the faces of all the Burlington Coat Factory employees.  It felt good.

The kids' school also set a Plano ISD record this fall with their canned food drive.  They collected 7,821 cans!  We brought in 60 of those and the kids and I had a few different discussions about how this would help people in our community not be hungry as much as they would have been otherwise.  That's a great feeling!

A few days later we had our annual Santa Party.  We asked our guests to bring an unwrapped toy to donate to the Collin County Children's Advocacy Center, which assists abused and neglected kids.  At least 40 kids who might not get anything else for Christmas this year, will now.  It felt good.

 

Hopefully Johnny the Elf is reporting all of our good deeds to Santa.  Goodness knows the kids could use some good points in St. Nick's book--especially our 8 year old son!