This year for Luke's family's sibling gift exchange we decided to take that amount of money we would normally spend and put it towards an Angel Tree gift instead. Then at Christmas we would report on our experiences. This is our story:
Our Ward had decided to just collect gift cards or money instead of actual gifts so the families in need could buy what they wanted. A great idea, but it made it a little less climatic than if we had been able to take the girls to the store to buy a toy for some child, but it still was neat. As a family we donated a gift card to Shopko. Also, my parent's had given each of the grandkids some money as part of their gift this year with which they could choose to give the money to someone in need or buy something they wanted.
When we told Tianna about her options she said, "Well, I think I'll just buy something because Santa will bring them all presents anyway."
Um... well... (how do you explain that one!) So we tried to explain how it would still be better if their parent's could buy their children a present too. That was all it took for her to decide to give it to the Angel Tree. Adelia was easily swayed as well. We put the money in their envelopes and each girl handed it off to the Relief Society President. It made us very pleased to see them joyful about giving to others!
{This wasn't related to the Angel Tree story, but as a family we also gave another special gift to someone. I dont' want our posterity to think all we cared about was what we got and the worldy gifts we received for Christmas.}
In Logan we had a wonderful friend, our next door neighbor, named Jim. He wasn't home a lot because he drives truck, but we had gone out of our way to get to know him and we were so glad he did. He was the kindest, most generous man! I helped him take care of his beautiful yard, and he in turned paid me quite well! Last Christmas we took him a small Christmas tree and a little Nativity because we noticed he didn't have any decorations. (why would he, he lives alone and is hardly ever home?) We were surprised that he had little gifts for the girls ready when we went to his house. He didn't know we were coming or getting him anything but he was giving our kids presents!
Throughout the summer he really went out of his way to help us while we weren't home to take care of our house so we could sell it. And as a going away present he gave us a wonderful book about Logan. He was so so thoughtful---truly a Christlike person.
He is also not a member of our Church. For several months we knew we wanted to give him something for Christmas and during Stake Conference I had a very strong impression we needed to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon.
We put together a care package with a stocking full of candy, popcorn, hot chocolate, and an orange. We gave him a Book of Mormon and a copy of the November Ensign (October General Conference talks) We wrote a letter to express our gratitude for him and that since we care so much about him we really wanted to share something very important to us. We also explained the Book of Mormon's history and what it does for us.
It's always really intimidating to share gifts like this, but we felt strongly that it was the right thing to do. I really hope he received it in the spirit of love that we sent it with. I would never want to offend him.
He did send us a Christmas card in return thanking us for the care package and wishing us well. I will take that as a good sign that he wasn't offended. We really do love that man and wish him all the best in his life!
No comments:
Post a Comment