The Giving Tree

I have been running myself into the ground this past week. But I'm not complaining. Every year we spend a certain amount of money on a family in the area who needs it desperately. I had been buying and wrapping these presents and then delivering them to the drop off point.

When I saw the "giving tree" at my daughter's preschool this year I couldn't stop crying. I pulled many items off that tree. How sad is it when a family asks for a rolling pin or some bath towels because they cannot afford them. There was a grandfather asking for shoes and a grandmother asking for kitchen towels. They also asked for shoes for the 2 1/2 yr old granddaughter that they care for.

The possession of these items and many more are just things that I take for granted everyday. I am so blessed to be able to say, "I need such and such" and then have the means to go out and buy that item. Some days I think my life stinks and then I come back to thoughts of the "giving tree." It could be me asking for these things but it's not.

I remember one Christmas when I was younger when my family didn't have a dime to spend on Christmas. We got a small amount of money from our grandparents. It was a sad situation but we accepted it. When you don't have extra money for anything in life you learn to accept it because there is no other choice.

Some of the most impoverished times in my childhood were the most blessed times. There were days when my parents didn't know where dinner was coming from that evening, but somehow it was always there. Someone would just happen by with left-overs from some church function or something like that.

It's things like this that I will never forget. I will never forget where I came from and for that, I will give of myself during every Christmas season as much as I can afford and even more so than that.