The Whirl of the Holidays

Once we get past Thanksgiving, doesn't it just feel like a snowball of events leading towards "The Big Day", and by that I mean, of course, Christmas!  I love Christmas, it just seems to come so fast.  There is so much to do and so little time.  Less than two weeks away?!  No way.  I'm NOT ready yet!  I alternate calling it Christmas with calling it "Jesus' Birthday", and that's about the best I can do for right now. I want the kids to know why we celebrate Christmas.
Is that tactic working?  Well, one evening Matthew asked me, "If it is Jesus' Birthday, why are we getting all the presents"? I told him we are practicing the act of giving, just as the wise men brought gifts to Jesus to celebrate his birth. 
Over the weekend August and I went out to run a couple errands, and when I saw the man standing outside Fred Meyer with the bell and the red bucket, I pulled August aside and handed him a dollar to place inside of it.  I explained to him that the money the man was collecting would go to help those in need...not just of toys, but of clothes and food.  I want to teach my kids to give, and to have compassion, and to see that Christmas is not just about getting all the toys you've wanted all year. 
Well, later that night, we headed out as a family to go to dinner, and on the way home we were cruising through the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights, when out of the blue he said, "Dad, Mom gave me a dollar to put in the red bucket at Fred Meyer."
I knew then that he had been processing that simple act of kindness and giving.  Imagine if everyone who passed by a red bucket this year put in a dollar, or even a quarter. How great such a simple act can be.  Maybe you just place the dollar in and move along, but maybe someone else witnesses you doing that, and you inspire them to donate a dollar, who inspires someone else, who sparks a conversation with their accompanying child, and so on.
I have visions of taking my kids to go and donate food to the food bank, of donating new toys to those bins you see around in Starbucks and outside Toys R' Us.  Please let them grow up to know how to give and have compassion.  If they do, I'll have done something right:-)