And the countdown begins....

Oh boy...just 10 shopping days till Christmas Eve!

And I still am not farther ahead than I was last week. Meaning one gift bought.
Noah said to me tonight, "Mom, maybe this year Christmas should be more about the love of being together with our family than about getting presents."
Awwww! What a sweetie! And of course, it is true.

Raising my kids, I have spoiled them insanely at Christmas time. Maybe because growing up, we didn't have a lot and I overcompensate. You know how it is...buy them the things you never had....
But this year we'll do it a bit differently...much to my husband's delight, who is a big Bah Humbug!

My sister Jen had a great idea and this year instead of buying each other gifts (between the adults anyway) we are adopting some homeless/down-on-their-luck Calgarians...buying them warm winter jackets, hats, scarves, gloves, long underwear, blankets etc. My sister has already bought 20 winter jackets!
You can see some of the men and ladies stories here.
http://www.homelesspartners.com/dropincentrestories.html
http://www.homelesspartners.com/centreofhopestories.html
http://www.homelesspartners.com/boothcentrestories.html

It truly is heartbreaking...most of the stories brought tears to my eyes. You forget how easily life can change on you. I'm sure most of these people never expected a life on the streets. One man is 71 years old!

Noah and I are also planning on spending Christmas Eve day doing a bunch of baking and then we'll bring it down to the Drop-In Centre and Mustard Seed etc. on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

We are not rich (in fact, we are incredibly house poor at the moment!) but I think we need to teach our kids that even the smallest gesture will have an impact on other human life. It's easy to forget that we have a roof over our heads, a warm bed to sleep in and healthy food to eat. So I guess this is the least we can do.