#GivingTuesday

Posted | 0 comments

I’m just going to name this post the hashtag for Giving Tuesday. Let’s just get down to it, shall we?  What are you giving today?

Lots of buying and getting and wanting and have-to-hav-ing happened over the weekend. We had Black Friday which started on Thursday and then Cyber Monday, which I think also started on Thursday. With all that buying and getting the “Giving”of the season sometimes get missed, or forgotten altogether. Getting the best deal seems to permeate our culture.

I have been trying to get down to the nitty gritty of what this season is about with my kids, for our family. Everyone’s family is different. We do not practice any particular religion so for us the focus is family and giving. Yes, there is some getting in there too. My kids are little. We do have SANTA! But what else is there? After we’re done thoughtfully picking out presents for our loved ones, what’s next?

My conversation with my kids always runs something like this: After family, we turn to our neighbors. We think of our teachers. Maybe we’ll make them some treats and put it in a pretty basket. Of course we say thank you to clients, they have put food on our table all year. For that we are grateful. Then what? We need to think of those who are less fortunate than us, because we are very fortunate.What can we do for them?

We don’t have a ton of excess cash, but we will donate some. But it doesn’t have to be cash. It can be time, or a service, or goods, or a smile. Mostly we will be giving goods. We are donating all of the baby stuff that has been sitting, waiting for us to decide on baby #4, to our local battered women’s shelter. Also we have a bag of toys for Toys for Tots. We have some winter jackets up in the attic that don’t fit anyone – I am postive there is a cold child somewhere. :-( We are also putting together a bag of food for the local food pantry.

So what are you giving today?