The Christmas Spirit Finally Arrives

You know I have been struggling with everything that has to do with Christmas right up until yesterday. I wasn't sure I was going to make it through but now I am assured, I have been touched and have found my purpose to muddle through. 

 At the soccer game on Saturday, Joan (another parent) told me that she had taken her daughter and 8 of her friends shopping all morning because they had taken on an struggling family for Christmas. She told me that in our high school alone, there are approximately 30 families who are in need. The PTA chose the 10 that were the most in need and were going to attempt to help them first. When all was said and done, they could only do 8 of those families. Joan and some of her friends took on a family and had a wonderful time purchasing personal items, food and gifts for the whole family. This moved me. I asked her how she came about getting to know about these families and she explained everything to me. I told her that if the other 2 families were still not being helped, I may be interested in doing this.

She called me later and got me in touch with the right lady to get me going. I had my choice of a family with 7 kids, a family with 4 teenagers or a family with 3 kids but I would have to call that one and get details because they didn't know much about them. I chose 3-kid family because I was going to be doing this all by myself and I wanted to do as much as I could for them. I got all the details and when I hung up the phone, I could hardly wait. Even though I was in my pajamas already, I got up, got dressed and Katie and I headed out to see what we could do to make this family's holiday special.

Our family consists of an 8-year old girl, a 12-year old boy, a 16-year old boy, Mom and Dad.

We decided to start out at the dollar store for personal items. We went with the standard shampoo, soap, deodorant, laundry soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes and several food items such as granola bars, fruit snacks and juice boxes. We also got several stocking stuffers. I have been told that many of these families don't eat any other time than at school. The PTA is hoping to get food for all 30 families for the two weeks they have off so I got things that I didn't think they would be purchasing. We filled our cart with stuff and every single item was only $1.00 each.

We had searched the ads for some of the ideas that the Mom had given us and decided that Walmart was our best choice. We shopped for hours. We got gifts for almost everyone including Mom and Dad. We also got Pizza Hut gift cards. With the $10.00 pizza deals they offer, we thought that was a good idea and they deliver. Who knows if this family has a car? Couldn't find the right gifts for the older boy. Since I have all girls, I'm finding this very hard. The Walmart employee told me that he would probably love an air soft gun. I don't know what that is, but I'm sure that a gun is not the best choice for a gift. I will keep trying to find the best thing for him. Meanwhile, tonight we have a million things to wrap. 


I am so happy I did this. I feel truly blessed that Joan mentioned this whole idea to me and that this year, I could afford to help. I can officially say that now I am in the true Christmas spirit.

Merry Christmas!