Our work has a giving tree this year
They had the food bank donations for Thanksgiving
Out of 30 employees me and my boss were the only two donors
How sad is that
The sadder part is i am probably the lowest paid on the payroll here
They are looking for gift cards for gifts for Christmas. I get it. The recipient can get what they need. Then it becomes a competition who is giving the most .
My boss says how much are you giving. I said depends on how much I have
I guess she doesnt want to look bad but how many gift cards of 25 dollars do they expect from me. I am thinking one is in my budget.
And certain items of food for donations
Nuts and poptarts were on the list so i got that
I will try and get a gift card when i am out
Oh the times they are a changing........
I remember my Mom saying to us as kids beggars cant be choosers meaning to be thankful for what you get and not be greedy and ask for things
But now everyone has to tell you what to get.
Kinda takes the true meaning away. For all occasions. Birthdays, baby showers, etc. Unless someone asks for ideas i think its not appropriate to ask for things. Old fashioned i guess
I played my drum for him.......i had no gifts to bring..... i believe it is not a competetion to see who gets the most.
Someone i know does a child of a poor family every year
They give her a list of wants
She goes way over the top spending close to 500 on this kid
I get it she wants him to have a nice Christmas and i certainly dont begrudge
But
He is one of like 10 kids
How will his siblings feel when he is opening a mountain of expensive gifts and they are not
How do they still believe in santa when they were good but it seems like they were not
To me I would rather donate money to an entity that was letting the parent make sure that each child is happy. Not just one because someone got them everything on their list instead of using it as suggestions
I guess i read too much into it
Maybe i am too sensitive to kids feelings
But i think this is how Christmas gets off track too
It has become a holiday full of greed and the real meaning gets lost
Giving of yourself
Thinking of others
Helping others
Thinking of their needs
Not making it a competition to see who gets the most and best gifts
Ok off my soapbox now
No wonder the holiday is stressful
We have left the Christ child out in the cold.
He has room at my house. Does he at yours?
Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.
You give of what you have--if you have a lot okay, if you don't okay.. I cannot believe the boss asked you how many gift cards--how crass is that!! How do people get that way?? Is she trying to make you feel small and then she feels big? What a piece of work...
ReplyDeleteWe have a set budget for Christmas and b-days so that if something comes along we can contribute during the year.
Hugs on a cold day Julierose
Beautifully said! Merry Christmas. Hugs,
ReplyDeleteOur area no longer does that - we have designated places where you can place a winter coat, hats and mittens and those in need can freely take what they need. Another county group does a collection of PJ's and socks. The more essential - not the monetary.
ReplyDeleteI don't like giving cash donations. I don't mind food, and I will say that with COVID, the kids learning at home, the school once a week has them come and get a box of food for each kid. Most weeks they get at least 4 gallons of milk, restaurants make sandwiches, one week they had cases of lunchables. I do my angel tree which asks for a gift under $25 which is hard to do anymore, but they give a list of things and so I choose, wrap the gifts and return to the tree.
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