"So this is Christmas . . .

**ri*smom** · 10-21-2008, 11:02 PM

and what have you done?"

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index...ck_A_Shoe_Box/

**katybug** · 10-21-2008, 11:14 PM

*sigh* Those types of things always warm my heart. My parents work used to have a Giving Tree during the holidays and for many, many years we picked a child or two off the tree and bought presents for them.

A couple of years ago my mom and I did two together and bought one big gift, lots of little things, coloring books, crayons, mittens, scarfs and candy. I LOVE doing it.

I've given to toys for tots too, I always go in and pick out a toy I would have liked as a child, makes me feel like it is MY childhood xmas again.

**Neeley** · 10-21-2008, 11:31 PM

We donate a set percentage of DH's annual salary to the United Way first.

Our next set of monetary donations are made to the Salvation Army.

Finally, every so many years we adopt an angel from the Angel Tree at church and purchase gifts for that child/teen. Usually these children/teens are either the child of a parent in prison or a child in the foster care system. We typically pick a teen since they are the ones chosen less often.

This year one of my best friends will be encountering some hard times around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Her DH is having his second open heart surgery in less than a year and a half. He is self employed and will have to close up shop for a couple of months. DH and I are thinking of "adopting" them and their boys for Christmas. They are really good, hard working people. Giving to them this year feels like the right thing for us to do.

My in-laws are really big on doing the shoe boxes for the children in foreign countries. MIL works on them for weeks with the ladies at her church.

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 10-21-2008, 11:40 PM

We sponsor a girl in the Philippines... She's such a sweetheart...

**Xadrian** · 10-24-2008, 01:41 AM

My husband and I have done the Christmas shoe boxes before, I guess about two years ago. Last year we decided against it. It's great knowing the boxes can be shipped all over the world, but we were disheartened when we read the founder would not allow them to be shipped or given to any of the children of the areas we have been at war with.

Upon second thought as well, I really don't like how they put a religious pamphlet in the boxes. I wish they would give the boxes of toys to the children with just wishing them good will. And please, no one take offense to this, because I'm not meaning to offend anyone, just saying..

My husband and I really wanted to get involved with something non religious for Christmas. Then we came across a Craigslist ad last year of a lady who was gathering donations for less well off children in her area. Unlike some donation places she was taking used in good condition toys. At that time I was making barbie clothes and ended up sewing up clothes and cleaning up old dolls and donating them with some other toys. When we delivered the items to the lady's house she wasn't well off. You could tell they were probably barely making ends meet, but there she was helping people out in her community when she herself could probably use a bit of help. Anyway, her charity shin-dig was non religious and not based off income, mainly because she felt asking for proof of income and asking a lot of questions was demeaning and they already had to go through that enough with getting help from services. Apparently it was a big success and was on the local news. Unfortunately I moved out of state, but I may just start something like that next year or find a group of people willing to help me on a similar quest =)

**madhen** · 10-24-2008, 01:50 AM

Every year, our office "adopts" a family and gets a Santa wish list for each of the kids. Typically, it has mostly stuff the kids need (backpacks, coats, etc) and just a few toys, but most of us go a little Christmas crazy and get extra toys.

Those kids clean up, at least for that year!

I also purchase Christmas gifts from the Southwest Indian Foundation. Non-religious, and you can do things like buy a cow for a family in someone's name, or buy a Christmas dinner for a family, etc.

My mother found religion after my father passed away, and a few years back, she told me that she donated money to her church in my name, as my birthday present. I have always been tempted to give her a card one Christmas informing her that a goat has been donated to a needy Native American family in her name and that they thank her very kindly. (This is the woman who informed me in early October that she wants a flat screen t.v. for Christmas.)

**MisaLady** · 10-24-2008, 10:19 AM

I usually pull a name from the Giving Tree. When I was little, we often "adopted" a family or an elderly person. One year, my mother found out that all my cousins had to eat for three months was pancakes (oh, I could really kick my uncle for that one... he wouldn't sign up for any help...grr... but, I digress) and so, even though we weren't doing so hot ourselves, we brought over food for the family, plus we got gift for each of the kids (and I think my aunt and uncle, too). At the time, my aunt had seven kids, only one of them a girl. She was somewhere between 8 and 10. The gift we gave her was the first new store-bought doll she had ever had. It broke my heart.

And, though this isn't really very relevant to the topic at hand: do you know that ALL of us cousins and our parents - and there were a lot - ALWAYS got a gift from them. The kids collected fat and made really nice handmade soap. It usually had oatmeal and maybe some spices, depending on whether they had any or not.