My Favourite Christmas Gift

Every year, a Christmas delight appears in my mailbox. It's my favourite present: it's always the same thing, the perfect size and colour and style.

It's a letter.

My friend sends a letter, addressed in her gorgeous hand-writing, and as soon as I see it, I smile.

The letter is always a variation on a theme, but the message is the same: she has made a cash donation to the local food distribution & training centre.

This year's letter starts with "You and I are blessed because we have everything we need. That's why I'm giving someone else your gift."

It's perfect. Sure, we could send each other some little trinket, or find some other way to acknowledge the holiday. Instead, by directing funds to the agencies that assist the most vulnerable in our society, the buying power of those dollars increases, and a hungry person will have a meal, or a lonely person won't be alone, or a cold person will find warmth.

For whatever the cause of the need, the need is there; and Christmas is a great time for alleviating discomfort and need.

So if you're realising, a week before Christmas, that you've forgotten to buy some gifts this year, I humbly suggest you consider some stress-free gifting. And in the words of my friend:
"Have a very merry Christmas, knowing that you have helped to make it better for someone else."