Incredibly Thankful...

As the holidays approach, I think we all begin to feel the rush of shopping, decorating, baking, visiting loved ones, etc., and at times lose the real meaning of Christmas.

As most of you know - this story is going somewhere FYI:) - I am an active member of a fabulous Mom's group here in Gig Harbor. One of the Mom's got a call from the secretary of her church, telling her of a single mother with 2 children. A 3 year old boy, and a 4 year old girl. The mother is disabled and unable to work or drive due to her disability. She is homeless, and someone has paid for her to stay in a hotel for the month of December, but she is unsure of what she will be doing afterwards. As a group, we are all putting our resources together to make sure they have a great Christmas. We are chipping in on gifts for all of them, as well as meals, etc. But, really in the "BIG picture" this could be any of us. In this economy EVERYONE is struggling. It could take one lost paycheck to be on the streets. I admire this woman for asking for help for her children and for herself. This must be a very difficult thing to do.

Ok, so to the point, Brian and I have decided to really scale down this year for Christmas. We are just doing stocking stuffers for eachother, and very small, but fun gifts for the kiddos... and on my side of the family we are not doing gifts, and on Brian's side we draw names for the adults and just buy for the kids. I think at times we need to remember that a $100 pair of jeans could buy a homeless family food for 2 weeks. It's all about putting things into perspective. Are our children going to remember the gifts they got, or the memories of waking up with Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma there? I think the latter, especially when they are so young. I think it is also extremely important to begin teaching our children to help others. Although we are blessed to have a warm home, warm beds to sleep in and food on the table, not every family does.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and remember that there are families out there that need our help. Even if it's a card, a bag of groceries, a gift card, or a hug....