‘Tis Better To Give

The tradition started with my mom. Every year she would bundle us kids up, take us downtown and prepare us for Christmas. You might be thinking we went to look at the displays in the window or for an early shopping spree. Nope. That didn’t happen. Instead, we went to ring the Salvation Army bell. Since there were three kids and herself, we signed up for two shifts. She made sure all four of us got plenty of time to get a few frozen toes and fingers while we helped make a difference for needy families. You’d think we would complain every year. We never did. She had taught us that, even though we acted like we we had to have more, we had plenty already. In fact, we had much more than many kids. We should be grateful. But not just grateful. No, we should be willing to help those who had less. It really was a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. But it made such an impact on me.

Angel Tree

Fast forward to when I became a mother. I did not keep the ringing of the bell tradition. However, I did keep the tradition of giving back. My family has done Angel Tree gifts many times. If you’re not familiar with it, Angel Tree is a ministry to kids who have one or more parents in prison. We did this when they were pretty young and not really all that thrilled about wrapping up a baby doll to give to a stranger, especially when they had no idea if they had one as well. But they gave with a smile anyway.

Missionary Kids

For several years we supported missionary kids at our church. These were kids they had met personally. They knew they were in a foreign country, living on the support of others. They relished things like fruity cereal or makeup from the States. Those things might seem trivial to some, but it made an impact on my girls. “You mean they can’t get Trix over there?” The “horror” of that blew them away. They wanted to buy them the whole section of cereal!

Hope Ministries

The last couple of years we’ve done our giving through a ministry our church supports, Hope Ministries. We get the names of two kids and at least one adult. We purchase socks, underwear, coats, a pair of pants and a shirt or sweater for each. For the children we buy one or more toy. And my kids know they will have to give up something for us to do this. They’ve not complained yet. It’s almost that time again this year. Once again we’ll go to the store and my two fashion divas will say “Ummm, mom, no self-respecting girl is going to wear that. Spend the extra money and buy the really cute sweater please.” I’ll smile and spend the extra. Why? Because we’ve learned ’tis better to give than to receive.