Friday, December 21, 2007
Christmas Presents
We made ornaments as Christmas gifts for family members this year. Unfortunately now that they are complete I find them rather dinky in their mode as gifts. Therefore Anna Grace will be joining me tomorrow to make both Christmas Cookies and some other certain goodies to supplement these gifts. I find the it is necessary to plan ahead for the coming year, and determine that next time I WILL be creative. I cannot afford to wait until the last minute to come up with good ideas. Do any of you have tips for making plans for the year ahead? Christmas, Easter, birthdays and anniversarys, all are fair game in the coming year.
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Just ask Tina, the queen of planning ahead! :) She always has great ideas that I admire, but I can't seem to pull them off myself. That's why I enjoy her efforts vicariously via her blog.
I did something this year I thought would be so cool and meaningful for some family members--we gave some gifts from the Samaritan's Purse Christmas catalog in honor of them. I cringe at the thought of buying more useless junk for people who already have everything they need or want (including myself, although I overcome that urge and buy some things anyway).
Anyway, with one person, it turned out to be a total FLOP and CHRISTMAS BUMMER. I know this person is particular about how aid is given to poor people--not wanting to give injudiciously in such a way that we unknowingly have a net NEGATIVE impact. He also has a pessimistic view of poverty-stricken places, especially Africa, feeling like it's hopeless, and that "the poor will always be with us," anyway.
Well, I thought that giving a Christmas gift in his honor of sponsoring a goat for a poor family in another country would be a great practical solution. The family could have a source of nutrition for themselves, and a potential source of income by selling milk, cheese, etc.. The video on the Samaritan's Purse website made it look like so compelling and well-run a program that certainly he would see the usefulness of this project and be happy about my choice. I even got teary-eyed seeing how we can easily help others across the globe who desperately need it.
Well, it led to an unpleasant discussion about how feeding poor people in these impoverished communities just enables them to have 4 children instead of 1, and create more people with needs that cannot be met by the resources available in the country. I was mad, sad, and disgusted.
So I guess I'm not the one to ask for gift ideas.
Making shaped Christmas cookies is an awful lot of work. It took Anna Grace and I the entire afternoon.
Jamey, I'm so sorry your gift giving experience turned out that way. What an ungracious way to respond.
One of the problems with giving aid to the poor or impoverished is that the giver has little to no control over how his/her attempts at aid are received. That's as true on the streets of America as it is in a place like Africa. For example, I once read a book (*Cause Celeb*, by Helen Fielding) that described government aid being rerouted and stored away by local governments instead of distributed to the ones who needed it. Fiction, yes. But it rings true.
The thing is, as Christians we're responsible for being obedient, not for controlling the outcome. Giving accompanied by lots and lots of prayer is much more beneficial than giving accompanied by lots and lots of information and research.
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