Giving

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas time! I love the smells, songs, decorations, food, family, presents, but most of all I love it because of all the GIVING. My parents are the most giving and generous people I know. The feeling of giving something to someone who has very little, is the BEST feeling in the world. Every year our family gives gifts to a few families that are struggling. We all pitch in and buy them gifts, toys, clothes, blankets or whatever they need. We then deliver the gifts to their home on Christmas Eve. I love to see the little kids faces when they see all the gifts and how appreciative they are. Sometimes they even cry. My mom always slips some extra cash into the mother's hand when we leave. She never thinks anyone sees her do this, but I always do.

Another thing my family does during Christmas is we all go to the nursing home and go caroling to each room and sing songs to the little old people. We take the neices and nephews because that's who the old people want to see the most. They kiss them and hug them and sing with them. There has never been a time where we have gone and we haven't cried and felt the spirit there. A lot of the old people that we sing to never have visitors and some don't have family. I love hearing their stories. Some are very funny, and some are very sad.

One of my most favorite things we do during Christmas is my parents will go to McDonalds and order 100 cheeseburgers. We all get in the car and drive to D Street (very ghetto street in Vegas where all the bums live) and pass out cheeseburgers to the homeless. They flock to the car. They are all so nice and appreciative. They all say, "God bless you and Merry Christmas." I love knowing that we made someone's day by just giving them a cheeseburger.

This year Jon and I were discussing what each other wanted for Christmas. We honestly could not think of something that we really needed. So we decided to give the money that we would have spent on each other, to someone who actually needed it. We went to the mall and picked out a little girl and little boy off the Angel Tree. I loved shopping for them and knowing that they actually needed this stuff. I just wish I could hand it to them personally. I hope they like it and have a very Merry Christmas because they deserve it!

I hope to pass down these traditions to my own family!

Tis the season of GIVING!