Seasons Greetings
It is the season of giving and people are flocking to the stores and flooding the internet trying to get the best deal for holiday gifts. There are so many ways to save during this week alone. I have been making a game plan for my week of shopping. My husband and I made a trip to Target for a rug and ended up getting gifts for the girls. We ended up saving 1/3 of our purchase price using Cartwheel App and our Target Red Debit Card. These are AMAZING things. Saving couldn’t be easier at Target. I love the store more everyday. Savings, however, is not the main point I wish to make here.
I get excited this year for Christmas because this is the first time we could actually afford everything for Christmas. The husband and I have had 7 Christmases together so far. 2 of them, we were moving to a new duty station during the holiday, 3 of them, we had NO money, and 2 of them we were broke, but we were blessed by organizations who donated gifts to our family. That was the last 2 years. The Armed Services YMCA on base gave away gifts to families who were in need. It was meant to be just a few little presents to the little kids so they could have something. I was BLOWN AWAY by how far they went for us and the other families waiting in line. Big sister( LS wasn’t born yet) got a nice brand new outfit donated by Old Navy, and at least 6 brand new toys from Toys For Tots, and they handed me an envelope with a letter thanking us for our service and a $100 gift card to the local grocery store. That gave us a Christmas dinner. I was so moved by this. People are so amazing. Last Christmas was little sister’s first.
We knew we were moving soon, so we didn’t put up decorations or buy anything. We had to save our money for the move across country. We got an email saying that a family had come in and wanted to “adopt” a family for Christmas and give them gifts and our family was chosen. We all got presents and a crate of canned goods. Again, people are awesome!
I feel so blessed that there were people out there willing to give to those in need during the holidays. So many families will go without. Since we are in a bit of a better position this year, we will be going out and buying presents for Toys For Tots. We are matching what we spent on the girls to give away. I hope you will think about buying a little something for this cause. It doesn’t have to be much. Even a $5 toy is more than what some will be getting this year. Think about it, please. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!
