Every year I always spend too much money on Black Friday and buy gifts that will just sit around my house. The kids my daughter knows have every toy you can think of so getting them something is hard and sometimes pointless because again it doesn’t get played with. So the last few years I have gotten JaMonkey involved in giving back to children that don’t have toys to play with.
Little girls have a habit of collecting stuffed animals by the bag loads. I have run out of places to stuff them and move them so I finally had JaMonkey sit down with me to go through and sort through the ones she doesn’t really play with. I start by saying to her that she doesn’t play with them and there are children in the world that don’t have any toys and would be so happy to have something to cuddle with and love on. I also explained to her that she should give some of the toys to her baby Sister so we started sorting what she was willing to giveaway, which ones she wanted to give to her Baby Sister and the ones she planned on keeping. A stuffed trashbag later we have a collection to giveaway.
JaMonkey’s birthday is around the end of November so her Birthday is very close to Christmas. She gets plenty of gifts for friends and family on her Birthday. The kid is spoiled. Sometimes she gets toys that she already has or toys that we just don’t have room for. But instead of taking them to a store to return them or exchange them we have been donating them to Toy’s for Tots and local charities that help families provide gifts for Christmas.
It feels so good giving back during the holidays, but it’s even more rewarding knowing that our daughter knows the meaning of Giving is better than receiving. She fully understands the concept of giving to people that are less fortunate because she already has so much to be thankful for.
How do you give back during the holidays?
