Christmas Traditions

It is so chilly today, that I am thinking of Christmas rather than Halloween or Thanksgiving...  We recently got an ad from a local store and of course they are completely stocked up on Christmas goodies...  The kids want a colored tree...  The store has trees in black, blue, pink, purple, red, and the standard green...  My husband is all upset that having a colored tree would break tradition...

On the other hand, he is totally on board with creating a new tradition in our family...  I am attempting to declutter the house especially all the toys the children have and never play with...  My daughter still has toys in the original boxes unopened from last Christmas.  She refuses to open them, as they will possibly get torn up by the youngest member of the family...

So I approached the kiddos with a thought.  Perhaps we could donate all those toys and extras in a different way this year...  The children love the idea!  I really love it and my husband couldn't agree more with it!!!  I have to call the local thrift store that is a mission driven non-profit Christian ministry that provides homes and services to homeless women and children and see if they will accept the donations we are hoping to make...  We are praying they will like the idea as much as we do!!!

Starting this year, the children will be wrapping their old toys and clothes that are in better than good condition, and placing them under the tree...  The kids decided to decorate the tree with all the little toys instead of ornaments...  What will happen with all the wrapped presents?  Hopefully the ministry will take them, wrapped and ready, and pass them on to children who need them!!!  We will label them with tags that can be covered up or replaced... The tags will state the the gender the gift is intended for, age range, type of gift (clothing, shoes, toy, etc.), and size if applicable....

I absolutely love that the whole family is on board with this idea!  The best part is giving of course, but I am really looking forward to the cleaning out the closets before the onset of all the new things coming into the house!!!  The children did question the whole concept of what they get back...  Like if they put x amount of things under the tree, do they get x amount of gifts for Christmas...  We explained that there is no mathematical equation to this, no method behind it...  It is simply a wonderful way to give to those in need and spread some cheer!!!

We do donate all the time to local charities and support local thrift stores with donations as well as by shopping at them...  The kids even put their change in the "bus pass" jar at each visit to one store, to help those the charity supports get rides to work... 

I look forward to the kids wrapping presents to put under our tree for others!!!  They will enjoy that and hopefully will learn a lot more about generousity!!!