The Joy of Giving: Not a Myth

Mr. Frost and I have a Christmas tradition of sorts. Every year we participate in a local charity event called L'arbre enchanté (the enchanted tree). Somewhere in November, the local Knights of Columbus set up in the mall and spread out dozens of paper Christmas decorations. Each paper features the given name and age of a child, along with two gift wishes. Often, one or two both choices are for winter items like coats and boots. If you think about that too long, you might cry. Winter is no joke this far north. For any family to have to rely on strangers to get a new winter coat for their kid... Yeah.

Our picks this time were Annabelle, five years old, who wanted either doll-sized furniture or Cars-themed toys, and Kelly Ann, four and a half years old, who needed a winter suit.

And so, we set forth to battle the shopping hordes.

This is what we got for Annabelle. We couldn't find any doll-sized furniture, so we went for the Cars stuff.



And this is what we got for Kelly Ann. We added a matching hat and mittens.



Mr. Frost suggested we add a book to our gifts, so we swung by the book store and stared blankly at the selection until I noticed a Cars-themed story. We had no idea what Kelly Ann might like, so I picked out the Aladdin-themed one because that was my favourite Disney movie as a kid. What little girl doesn't want a tiger for pet?



I don't know if there are similar events in other cities, but I certainly wish it was done everywhere. It's much more personal than dropping change in a cauldron and it's good for the soul.

I hope Annabelle and Kelly Ann will be pleased. Merry Christmas, kids.