We decided that rather than exchange gifts with Will's family this year, we would adopt a local family and spend our time and money shopping for them. Our family was a single mom with three young children (a 7 year old boy, and 3 and 4 year old daughters). The kids and I went to WalMart a week or so ago and had THE BEST TIME shopping. Both Olivia and McIver had some questions about why we were buying certain things (underwear and socks, cleaning supplies, canned goods) that are so standard in their own lives. It allowed for some good discussion about why there are families who need 'adopting' at Christmas time (and why our school has food/coat/diaper drives throughout the year). They had a lot of fun choosing outfits, shoes and toys for the children.
Here they are with all the goods. We spent all afternoon wrapping the gifts and putting tags on them. Olivia was a huge help; McIver kept the gifts organized for us once they were wrapped. He was most excited about the football and basketball that he picked out for the little boy.
The kids were sad that they weren't going to get to watch the family open their gifts, but they did enjoy delivering the gifts to the Families Helping Families warehouse. I think they got a really good, tangible lesson about what Christmas is really all about.
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