The holidays are all about giving, rather than receiving to me. I enjoy buying gifts and giving them to the people that I love. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
But the thing is, all of the people that I buy for, don’t necessarily “need” anything. They are not deprived of anything and I’m sure some of my gifts get thrown in a closet or worse, re-gifted! That’s why I was quick to sign up for the Disney Champions for Kids mission through Collective Bias. You can read all about that in my first post. You can also see photos of my shopping experience on Google +.
The Man, Big Bro and I headed out to Walmart on Friday to find a stocking and Disney goodies to fill it with. I was quite excited to shop for girlie items, but the boys had other ideas in mind. We finally settled upon Toy Story and Cars items.
So this morning, I filled the stocking so that I could go donate it. As you can see in the picture, all of the stuff barely fit! But, after about 5-10 minutes of re-situating everything, I got it all in there! Then I jumped in the truck and headed down the road to the food pantry.
We recently moved here, so I have never been there before, but drove by a ton of times. I parked, walked up to the door, opened it and was impressed right away with the holiday feel of the place. There was a Christmas tree and decorations right there in the main room, and I thought that was a great way to show the holiday spirit!
There was a woman at the counter who was checking in to get some food, so I waited my turn then went up to the counter myself. I asked the woman if they accept holiday gift donations and she said yes! I was really happy for that, because the Toys for Tots donation box was my only back up plan since I don’t really know what kind of charities and organizations are in my area.
I handed her my stocking, let her know that it was filled with Cars and Toy Story stuff perfect for a boy ages 4-7 and she assured me that she would find a good home for it. She then smiled brightly and thanked me for my gift. The woman in line before me {who was now seated} also told me that was really nice of me! I thanked her and wished her a Merry Christmas.
Shopping for all of the stuff to fill the stocking with was really exciting. I knew that I was doing something wonderful for someone in need and it warmed my heart. But that didn’t compare to walking into that food panty, presenting my gift and seeing the joy that it brought to people who weren’t even really on the receiving end of it. I walked out of there with a big smile and so much love in my heart. I’m so glad that I was able to give like that this holiday season. In fact, I think my family will do something similar again next year. I will buy a few inexpensive stockings, stuffers and candy; then the kids and I will fill them together and take them over to the food panty. I think that would be a great tradition for us to start and I hope it brings them as much joy as it brought me!
I hope this inspires you do find a way to give this holiday season. Even if you’re completely broke from all that holiday spending, there is still plenty that you can do. Perhaps you could donate an hour or two of your time to a local food pantry, homeless shelter or just do something really nice for an elderly neighbor. The holidays can be a very depressing time for many people and a little kindness really goes a long way!
Connect: You can connect with Champions for Kids on Facebook and @champions4kids on Twitter!
This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions are my own, take it or leave it.
