A Letter To Santa Can Provide A Shopping Guide

During the holiday season I try to help others as much as possible. The mothers’ group I belong to collects clothes and shoes throughout the year. At Christmas we get a list of twenty families that need help for the holidays. I believe that every child should find gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. The families on our list will get clothes for the entire family, gifts for the children in the house, and Christmas dinner.
When we receive the names of people we are to help we contact them. Our first step is to find out what they need for Christmas. We have even brought in Christmas trees to decorate homes when had to. At one house we visited the kids had never even had a Christmas tree - that about broke my heart.
All the children in each family write a letter to Santa. This way we have a real sense of what each child really wants. This will be the fourth year I have volunteered with the group. We have laughed over the funny letters to Santa and cried over the sad ones. Over the years I have kept in touch with a few of the families that I have met. Nothing is more gratifying than being able to help these parents provide Christmas for their children.
We go through all the clothes and shoes we have collected and divide them among the different families. We try our best to provide a new coat and gloves to every child. Inside the pocket of each coat each child receives a letter from Santa. Specific toy requests are usually the hardest to fill so we just do the best we can. We deliver the gifts to the parents before school is out for Christmas break. The dinner is either sent or picked up the week of Christmas.
Every member of my family has helped to make these families’ Christmas season brighter. My oldest loves to help me shop discount racks and yard sales. My sons are always ready to help when I have a heavy load to carry. I think by seeing just how lucky they are my children have gained a respect for the things they have in life. I really believe they are and always will be better people because of these experiences. I know I’m blessed to have the life I live and the least I can do is to help make another parents’ Christmas that much easier.
This Christmas when you are stressing over things being perfect at your house take a moment to look around at all you have to be thankful for. If you get a chance this year help out in whatever way you can. With the way the economy is going these days there will be plenty of families who need help with the holidays. Call churches in your area or local shelters, they will be able to lead you in the right direction.

A Family Tradition – Christmas Day Dinner

On Christmas day our family makes a huge Christmas dinner. Every person in the family is responsible for at least one dish and one dessert. We start to prep for Christmas dinner about a week before Christmas. Each one of our children has their signature dish. My husband and I help as much as the kids and grandkids will let us. We all love cooking together as a family. On Christmas morning the kids like to find a package from Santa to all of us. It is always something we can use while we cook together.

Angela, my oldest makes the best mashed potatoes. She likes to use new red potatoes and real butter. It is a dish we all look forward to at Christmas. She is teaching her daughter Savannah her recipe. Savannah no longer leaves out cookies with her Santa letter; instead she leaves out mashed potatoes. She is old enough now that she hardly needs any help from Angela while cooking the potatoes, but I still remember her standing in a chair trying her best to mash the potatoes during Christmases past.

Andrea, Derek’s wife, likes to make broccoli casserole. She has made it so many times she has everything under control. Her dessert dish is always where she needs help. She likes to make beautiful dishes. We have had fun over the years trying out her recipes. Some of the dishes looked like the pictures on the recipe others at least tasted good. I am glad she is open to attempting the foods that ‘look good’ but seem complicated to cook. Many of those are a turn off for me when it comes to cooking – but I love to eat them!

Daniel is my oldest grandson and the picky eater of the family. If it is green this kid isn’t going to eat it. His mom and dad have tried everything to get him to eat a variety of foods and nothing helped - not even when he had a letters sent from Santa asking him to. Daniel makes corn on the cob. It is his favorite. For dessert he always without fail wants to make brownies.

Johnny, my oldest son, always makes an interesting dessert dish. He does searches on the Internet and finds ideas for something we’ve never had before. I love it because he gets recipes from around the world. You never know what he will fix. He also makes a delicious baked bean casserole every year.


Madilynn, the baby of the family makes the deviled eggs. She loves peeling the shells off the eggs. One of the adults helps with cutting the eggs and mixing the ingredients. Madilynn gets to peel the shells off the eggs and fill them. She has three special plates to hold the eggs when they are finished. Her favorite is blue glass with snowflake engraved in the bottom.

Derek is quite the cook. He usually does the ham or turkey, as well as at least two or three main dishes. Macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, chicken and dumplings and hash brown casseroles are some of his usuals. I almost always prepare candied yams using my mom’s recipe. And I try to find a special tea recipe each year. My husband doesn’t take anything on by himself, but he does help me with whatever he can. The truth is we all bump into each other and have fun in the process.

The fact that we all contribute to our Christmas dinner makes it much more special. I know that I am blessed to have such a close knit family. That is the greatest gift Christmas can bring.