'Tis the season

[searching_for_sunshine]

...for giving...

i thought it may be a really great thing if each of us at JCO made a pact to help out those who are less fortunate this year for the holidays (of course, only if you are able)...it's good to do that all year round too - but i digress

just any little (or BIG) thing... some ideas:
1) help the elderly at a local home: read stories, have coffee and conversation, etc
2) give to a charitable agency: the red cross, habitat for humanity, the salvation army, etc
3) "adopt" a family who needs help this holiday (we did this one year through the company i work for - it was well deserved and received)
4) "adopt" an angel from the angel trees in local malls and/or grocery stores that let you donate whole meals
5) if you are able to walk and get around just fine - park farther away when out shopping...this gives people who really need a close parking spot a chance (since so many people park in handicapped parking that don't need it)
6) volunteer at a local mission

i personally, am donating a few meals through the grocery as well as giving to habitat for humanity (i do the latter all year round and they especially need it this year with the hurricane re-builds) it's not much but it's personally what i can do

it feels just as good to give as it does to receive...and sometimes even better

[fluffy]

I'll stick with the stuff i'm doing with the kids at school...........but

what about our feathered and furry friends..........put out some peanuts.......break ice on the water............and if you find any lost hedgehogs shove them in a snuggly box until the spring.........lol........

Fluffy

[searching_for_sunshine]

thank you fluffy...you're right, don't forget the feathered and furry!

any act of kindness will do nicely just like in that movie "pay it forward"

good will towards men (and women and children and nature and animals, etc.....)

[quirky]

On a toll road, pay the toll for the car behind you.

[fluffy]

nah.............that's too generous..........lol................shove the 60p in a charity can instead..........lol

fluffy

[Canadian Jayne]

Frolicking, fa,la,la,la, la,la,la la.
Great ideas, I'm going to try some of those.
I saw some ducks out in the frozen river maybe I'll toss some crumbs
or seeds or something. I've left popcorn for the squirrels and they eat that.

[searching_for_sunshine]

i was forced to do some christmas shopping for relatives this past weekend and it really depressed me.

i try to buy thoughtful gifts (as most people do) but i kept thinking how fortunate we all are and that we really didn't NEED anything. just walking through the stores made me really ashamed of what "capitalism" has done to this holiday. we are made to feel bad if we hand-make gifts but yet those are usually the most heart-felt gifts that we give and a lot of times our favorite to receive (well maybe not that reindeer sweater from aunt bea - LOL) but you get the point...

this time of year i always feel so much love (it becomes a little overwhelming at times) december is such a magical time of year besides the christian aspect there are all the fairy, santa and elf references, it's just one fantasy after another. i'd love to live in who-ville or the north pole of rankin-bass all year round. maybe it's a my need to escape this hateful world around me that wants to be fulfilled....i don't know

but i have digressed...does anyone else feel this way and if so why do we feel we must BUY, BUY, BUY and put ourselves in debt when our deep heart-felt sentiment for a wonderful holiday should be enough? spending precious time together should be enough....

disclaimer: i just wanted to add that there are many people who really do NEED things and of course i don't mean them. this was mainly a rant for buying the "people with everything" gifts.....am i too jaded?

[fluffy]

I guess a really nice family Xmas, with loads of nice food and drink, with everyone really happy and no fighting.............and a warm happy feeling of being loved in your tummy would be the nicest of all...........
but alas, that sounds like 'happy little Elf Land'.........the reality is that the stress of Xmas usually makes people irritable or sad.........

When it comes to pressies you don't have to spend an awful lot to make people happy .............one of my fav presents has been a small cuddly reindeer whose nose lit up when you pressed it's tum............lol

And this makes me sound like brat but when my ex used to send me flowers on special dates my heart used to sink...........all he was doing was phoning up interflora.....................and yet a heartfelt note or card would have meant so much more.............

i guess we do live in a consumerist world...........and if we don't indulge in massive excess at Xmas time we somehow feel inadequate or hard done by.............................

It really is a complicated time of year................and yet i do confess i love it so..............

fluffy

[quirky]

The holiday isn't found on a store shelf, or at someone's "midnight madness" sale.

It's inside people.

[searching_for_sunshine]

thanks fluffy and quirky. you're right. i need to not worry that my gift won't be accepted with the sentiment it is given in and just give ...and shut up already

i have become a little spoiled (in a good way) by the fact that my family lives all over the US so we rarely get together but when we do, our "gift" to each other is just talking and hanging out. it's lovely, really. it may sound like "happy little elf land" LOL but it's true. after my dad and my brother's wife passed away, i think my family saw that we need to enjoy each other while we can.

ps: the relatives i talked about earlier are not my family by blood....

[searching_for_sunshine]

sorry i was a big scrooge yesterday regarding the gift thing...i think it was intensified by a huge case of PMS and holiday stress

i'm better today

thanks for bearing with me

[Jimenem]

Sending gifts to people you care about, and genuinely not wanting anything in return, except for them to have a good holiday.

[advisor]

very interesting

[fluffy]

yeah..................i do love the giving part..........the getting part really is just a bonus..........
lol..........i just like being myself with my family........... and eating till we all fall asleep in front of the telly, with a stuffed snoring dog on my lap.....that's a happy Xmas to me..............lol

fluffy

[searching_for_sunshine]

LOL that reminds me of christmases when i was growing up