The Spirit of Giving

Right after Thanksgiving I start to get this really excited feeling - a feeling of happy anticipation for the holidays. I look forward to getting together with family, decorating the house, getting a Christmas tree, driving around town and seeing all of the Christmas lights. I love all of it.

But more and more, my excitement is mixed with anxiousness. There seems to be very little time to get everything done before Christmas and the list is long. I have to think of the perfect present for everyone in my family. I have to shop for the presents and wrap the presents. I have to put up the Christmas tree. I have to put up the Christmas lights. I have to bake cookies for all of my neighbors. I have to buy special little gifts for each of my co-workers. I have to take the perfect photo of Little Guy for our Christmas cards. I have to order the cards and mail the cards. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Only I don't have to do any of it. I just feel like I do. Why?

I'm not going to try to answer that question in this post (although it is a question worth pursuing - just not now because, to be frank, Little Guy just went down for his nap and General Hospital is on and, well, watching General Hospital (while eating chocolate cookies) is my favorite thing to do so I must go watch NOW....). But just really quick, in the name of trying to focus less on the materialism of the holidays and more on the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to take a breather from all of this hubabaloo and make a few recommendations for websites/posts you might want to check out if you're interested in donating to a cause during the holidays this year.

Her Bad Auction: This is an ingenious idea that several of my favorite bloggers came up with to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy Research in honor of Her Bad Mother and her nephew Tanner, who is battling this disease. There are tons of fabulous items that are being raffled off. You can buy tickets on the site. This is your chance to win cool stuff while donating to charity. How awesome!

The Really Useful Gift Catalog: The Adventist Development and Relief Organization's Really Useful Gift Catalog is my favorite resource for Christmas gifts. This website is set up just like Amazon.com in that you add "items" to your basket, but instead of adding books and CDs, you can add things like 10 sanitary napkins for a mother in India who just delivered a baby ($1.00) or a set of flip flops to protect the feet of a child ($2.00) or a loving nurse for a baby at an orphanage in Russia for one month ($4.00). You will be amazed by how little it costs to make a difference in someone's life and how easy it can be. You can also donate in someone's name. I love this!

Sunshine Scribe's Gift Ideas: Sunshine Scribe has a new column about at Mama Blogs Toronto. Her recent article had some great tips on including causes in your holiday giving and engaging children in meaningful holiday activities that give back to the community.

And here are two quick and easy actions, which will take less than a minute each:

The Hunger Site: Jenny at Mama Drama mentioned this on her blog so most of you have already probably heard of this, but I think it bears another mention here on my list. Go to this site, click on the yellow button and they will donate one cup of staple food to the hungry. You can click every day!

Doctors Without Borders: As I mentioned in my last post, you can generate $1.00 a day by clicking on the Find.com Advertisement running in my ad banner and searching for something "red" - like "red scarf". It takes less than a minute!