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18 posts
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Helping Someone Less Fortunate, No Matter How Little You Have During Christmas (or any time)!

Bee's Knees started this conversation
Dec 5, 2011

From Thanksgiving time to Christmas has always been tight for me, since I gave birth to 2 little people right before Thanksgiving and one in January. This makes the birthday gift shopping and Christmas gift shopping really close together. Let us not forget all the friends and relatives and teachers we are expected to gift as well. I have finally dumped the guilt about not being able to cover all this (along with lots of stress!) You would really chuckle if I told you all the silly last moment gifts I have come up with. Necessity really is the mother of invention! I'm not sure if those pantyhose snowmen I made got trashed or not, but being creative really is the key, and home made gifts are still very meaningful to many people.
Every year I am amazed at how God shows up right on time and provides miracles for my family. For many of us, we struggle to simply pay the bills, much less have extra, in order to fulfill Christmas wishes.

It is still so important (in my opinion) to keep our perspective, and to teach the children that this season should be about giving.
In the past, when we had the means, we participated in projects like Operation Christmas Child, or local toy drives for needy children. This year we are not able to do anything like this, so we will be volunteering to wrap gifts for distribution at a local ministry for those in need and making gifts from what we have on hand. When we can, we share extra clothes and food with friends and neighbors. I love freecycle.com, where you can post things you would like to give away and people in your area can take them off your hands. It has been a great way to help others and keep my space less full of STUFF!
I would love to know what you are doing this year, to reach out to others!

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bookworm2011
Jan 7, 2012
I think your post is encouraging..in a world where we are surrounded by commericalism, its easy to lose sight of what Christmas is about..I was happy that when I was unable to provide my kids with a traditional Christmas my cable was cut off..I didnt have them watching toys for sale every two minutes and begging for them..I was able to use my situation as an opportunity to impress upon them how important it is to give and how many people were so much worse off than them. Those lessons stuck and to this day, my children are all givers. They get so much more joy from giving than getting..One year when we wanted to surprise them and give them money so they could buy whatever they wanted, they were all so disapointed because they felt no care was put into it and they actally enjoyed the little homemade gifts I was giving them and their stockings filled with freebies..it makes the holidays so much less stressful for us as we have alot of family members refusing to give up the expensive Christmas traditions and trying to make us feel guilty for not wanting to take part..on average each person in my family spends between 1,000-4,000 on only Christmas gifts...some spend more..my husband and I wanted out of this because we have young adults that we are trying to teach to value money especially in this economy, and instead of backing us up, the adults in our family made us out to our children to be cheap..it was very disheartening that so much emphasis is put on things..I am hoping that we can continue to influence our children so they know when we spend less, even if we can afford, it can help others that dont even have necessities..there is always someone worse off than us and if I were to be in that situation again, God forbid, I would hope that someone in a better position would help me too.
reply to bookworm2011
Bee's Knees
Jan 7, 2012
 in response to EmmaLouise86...   Thank you, Emma Louise. Bless your heart! Is there anything I can help you with, Honey?
reply to Bee's Knees
EmmaLouise86
Jan 7, 2012
you seem like such a beautiful person god bless you
reply to EmmaLouise86
montycop13
Dec 21, 2011
 in response to allieCAT61...   thank you for careing!! bless u!!
reply to montycop13
sad one
Dec 21, 2011
 in response to Bee's Knees...   thanks anyways
reply to sad one
Bee's Knees
Dec 21, 2011
 in response to buckcreek...   Thank you for your prayers. I so appreciate them. I am praying for you all too.
reply to Bee's Knees
buckcreek
Dec 21, 2011
Just want to say hello and God bless. I've been distant from the site as things are just off the track here. I need to keep my hand on the wheel and help my wife get us the ----passed the Holidays keeping our Father front and center. God bless you and I so wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year! We remain hopeful regarding our Ministry. Your words, your caring and the comfort you put forth is nothing less than amazing. Merry Christmas....
reply to buckcreek
Bee's Knees
Dec 20, 2011
 in response to allieCAT61...   I'm so glad your son was blessed with some new clothes. I know most kids probably prefer toys for Christmas, but at least he will have some gifts to open. I wish I had the means to get toys for your child and my own 5 this year. Most people who write me for help here are homeless, and/or can't even afford food and will have nothing to give their children at all.
I am happy you will be getting some money on January third and that you have an income.
Maybe you could tell him you are having 2 Christmases and give him the clothes on Christmas, then some toys for New Year, after you get paid. Also, check out Schmidty's page. He has tons of info for help. God bless you!
reply to Bee's Knees
allieCAT61
Dec 20, 2011
 in response to montycop13...   I WISH I COULD FIND SOMEONE TO HELP ME AS KIND AS U ARE .
reply to allieCAT61
allieCAT61
Dec 20, 2011
I NEED HELP BUYING CHRISTMAS FOR MY SON DO U KNOW ANYONE WHO WILL HELP ME THIS LATE? THE LADY THAT WAS SUPPOSE HELP ONLY BOUGHT CLOTHES FOR HIM AND I HAVE NO MONEY UNTIL JAN 3RD 2O12 I CAN;T SEEING HIM CRY
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Bee's Knees
Dec 20, 2011
 in response to sad one...   Wish I could. Check out Schmidty's page. Lots of great info there!
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sad one
Dec 19, 2011
Well I think its nice if you can help me my family I don't ask for much its been a sad yr for me my dad past away my back messed up at wk I haven't wk for a 1. 1/2 then I tried to pick up the peaces and now I'm laid off.
reply to sad one
Bee's Knees
Dec 18, 2011
 in response to montycop13...   Wow! That was quite a generous act. The Father saw what you did and will reward your selfless act.
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montycop13
Dec 17, 2011
i had an old silver dollar in my pocket that i have carried around, i have thought about pawning it, but today at walmart i decided to put in the salvation army pot. hope it helps someone who needs help more than me. bless all, monty
reply to montycop13
Bee's Knees
Dec 10, 2011
 in response to onlyin2012...   Thanks so much! I tell people I will pray for them and I mean it. Hang in there! God bless you!
reply to Bee's Knees
Bee's Knees
Dec 10, 2011
 in response to onlyin2012...   I will pray you get the help you need! I need a job as well. Wish I had the means to help you financially.
reply to Bee's Knees
MeeMee56
Dec 8, 2011
Last yr my 3 kids had no Christmas cause of a lousy dad who works under the table and doesnt care if the kids have food on there table or Christmas gifts. We baked a cake and celebrated the birth of Christ. They are 5 4 and 10. Its hard to explain to a 4 and 5 yr old why santa didnt come and it is going to be the same this yr. I am disabled and get SSI but it just covers our rent annd utlities. There is nothing left. Its sad but the other day I couldnt even get toliet paper cause there was no money so we got out kleenex,napkins anything we could find. Dont know what we will do when that runs out. I dont have family to help. I called several churches they couldnt help with Chistmas and Toys for tots I was to late. didnt know you had to sign up so early. I feel so bad for the kids its breaking my heart.
reply to MeeMee56