Giving to others

Lettie wrote her letter to Santa last week. Her letters aren't at all like what I wrote at her age ("I want, I want, I want.") Two years ago, she asked for a pkg. of dental floss (and I don't mean a bikini!)- honestly, that is all that she asked for!

This year, she asked for the movie "UP" and some "fake jewelry" and then asked Santa to take any toys he was thinking about giving to her and giving them to children in Guatemala. She went on to tell him that she hopes to be a teacher in Guatemala when she is grown, teaching English to children there. Can she really be this emotionally mature at 8? Is this the same little girl who is (right now) wearing a sparkly ballerina skirt, pink striped shirt, and pink satin high heels (bought at a garage sale with great glee) and a crown and who was wildly dancing to the "Scottish Christmas" CD earlier this evening?

It is times like this that I think we must be doing something right, (but then she'll have a melt-down and I wonder what we're doing wrong.:)

Christmas is such a hard time for so many, especially this year, with money in such short supply. It is an opportunity to make gifts that have real meaning, though. Lettie likes nothing so much as having both parents at home, playing board games or gathered around the piano singing Christmas carols as she plays them. The gift of our time is something very precious to her, and I'm thinking some coupons for having us both at home together to spend an evening playing with her will be a nice gift. We wouldn't be buying the latest toy even if we could afford it, and what she really wants can't be bought with even the finest gold.

This year, talk to your kids about foregoing at least 1 toy, and giving that money to those less fortunate than you. In the U.S., even our poor have so much more than so many around the world.

There are many great charities- some we particularly like are kiva.org (microloans all over the world), mayanfamilies.org, hands-of-hope.com and the feeding centers in Chiquimula, Guatemala, for which we raised almost $2,000 this past month, http://www.guatemalamission.org/feedingcenters.htm

Instead of being upset that we can't get the latest "X", let's be thankful that we have so many blessings and have, in relation to so much of the world, have so much.

Instead of getting that sweater that your sister-in-law may hate, make a donation in her honor to a charity. None of us need more stuff, yet these groups I listed do work with people who are truly trying to find some bootstraps so that they can pull themselves up.

At the Austin table of the Pan American Round Table today, I led the "collect", which says in part "teach us that through knowledge, we gain understanding, and that understanding leads to friendship and through friendship comes peace." Maybe the knowledge that other parts of the world don't have nearly what all we have will help us to understand in some small way the needs in those countries, and we can help them in our own ways. I always love the quote from Mother Theresa that "we can't all do great things, but we CAN all do small things with great love."