'Tis the season to get more stuff. Right? More and more and more. Consume, consume, consume. That's what our culture would have us believe the holiday season is all about. Let's break the cycle and clear out our closets instead.
Shoe Boxes: Samaritan's Purse - I'm sure you have tons of these things in your home. I even have some stuffed with crayons.
Samaritan's Purse asks that you take your old shoe boxes and fill them with goodies for kiddos. They show you how, give you a list of items to pack, and labels. This is such a cool and fun thing for the kiddos to do with you. My oldest had a blast picking everything out for "his boy" last year. You can even decorate the shoe box to take it to the next level. Fun. Fun. Fun.
Coats and Blankets: Nineteen. That is the shameful number of coats I have in my closet right now. I'm pretty sure I can't wear all of them this season, nor would I even want to. It's time to clear some of the coats out and keep others warm. There are so many folks that don't have shelter or warm clothing. Find a local organization that is collecting coats and blankets this holiday season and unload your bundles.
Canned Goods: Filling up a grocery bag never feels quite as good as it does when it's for those in need. Check your local charities for those doing food drives and clean out that pantry. Nothing available in the pantry? Make a trip to the grocery and fill up a couple of bags for others - you will be so glad you did.
This could possibly be the best Reduce, Reuse, Recycle post I've ever done. It feels so good to give, I don't know why I don't do it more often. Here's one more idea for you. If you have littles, have you ever thought about reducing the number of gifts they get over the holidays? We are starting a new tradition this year: 3 gifts each. The three wise men brought Jesus one gift each and so 3 gifts will be received by our boys along with the story of our Savior's birth. We've already begun prepping our oldest for this reduction!
How about you? What's your favorite donation of the holiday season? xo
We just handed in our Christmas shoe box recently too - was fun filling it according to the varius categories. Your suggestions above are all great ways of helping those less fortunate than us have a happie Christmas. Hope you're having a good week x
ReplyDeleteThe Shoe BOx is our Christmas project...and of course the local food bank.
ReplyDelete(side note.......
I HAVE HEARD that if you get a speeding ticket in our city...in lieu of paying it off with a cheque:( ...you can donate to the Christmas Toy Fund...a gift worth the same amount as your ticket.
Now I wouldn't know anything about that;) (just heard it on the radio. really)
:)
GREAT post. My parents started the same tradition of 3 gifts to represent the 3 gifts Jesus received - but it's good to start them early instead of wait until high school like mine did :)
ReplyDeleteWe are donating canned food at my daughter's school food drive. We are also filling boxes for our churches gift drive. I love having opportunities to get the kids involved!
ReplyDeleteI am also trying to R,R and R this Christmas by using only things we already have in our house to wrap gifts. Like brown grocery bags as wrapping paper, tied up with twine and stamped with Merry Christmas. And colored bags with bright tissue and ribbon from my ribbon scrap box. ;)
shoebox for us, too. It really hit me hard when my little girl was in such disbelieve over the fact that "her girl" probably did not have a TV!
ReplyDeletewe do stockings with fun thingies & essentials, and then the 3 gifts, too. Ours go like this: body (clothes- maybe a couple little handmade things), soul- something to spur on her love of the Lord, and spirit- something that she's really into/will love (last year it was a homemade kitchen).