Will you be a Secret Santa this year?

ITunes prepaid cards.

No, I won’t, I have in the past but I am the needy one now. haha
I will be giving a gift to the little 8 old year neighbor girl that I babysit a few times a month but she is not a needy child. I will be giving a couple of gifts to my adult daughter who is also doing well but no other outside charity.
I WILL be a secret Santa though to all of the animals here, Oat Nut bread for the geese, carrots for the burros and horses, kitty treats and new toys for the cats. Charity begins at home and that is where it will be staying this year here. haha

I found These kids bikes at Kmart.com for only $20 each and bought 5 of them. I haven’t decided who I’m going to give them to yet. Probably Toys for Tots.

@Judi Awww…those are super cute! Very nice, perfect for little kids just learning to ride a bike around age 4–5-6.

Those bikes are a great deal! 5 lucky tykes out there will have a great Christmas now!

@Cruiser Cash is always welcome for kids.

No. Not that I don’t think kids deserve stuff, but when I worked in Child Protective, and would bring toys to kids during holiday season (toys donated by local charities), the families had so many toys from other agencies that it was more than I buy my daughter now. One mom had so many she had them hidden under the table and was going to give them out the rest of the year. The school gave them toys, the housing authority gave them toys, we gave them toys, the hospital had some kind of a toy drive. It really made me cynical. I also had a mom (as a client) who was a DV victim, and she got so many turkeys during Thanksgiving (I think she got 5) from various agencies that the turkeys didn’t fit into her refrigerator and so she was giving them to her neighbors. She didn’t want to turn the turkeys down, so she accepted them, but it was too many to keep.

So that’s why I’m not a Secret Santa. I do think it’s a great thing to do, though.

do i look like a catholic priest to you?

@jca, that’s why I’m hesitating about toys for tots. I want to find the organization that finds the kids who fall through the cracks.
When I was a young mom my first husband and I seperated right before Christmas. We sold our dumpy car to a sleezy car lot and got barely enough money for me and the kids to fly to my moms house. My husbands minimum wage employer allowed him to sleep in the shop.
It was just before Christmas and even though I applied for welfare it was to late for any money to come our way. My mom didn’t have any money either but we were thankful for the roof over our heads.
My children were 6 months. 2 and 4.
I decided I would give my daughters my old barbies for Christmas and my son was young enough he wouldn’t know the difference.
All the charities had exhausted their supplies when I called on Christmas Eve.
I told one charity (wish I could remember which one) what I was doing with the barbies and said,” if anyone just has Barbie accessories in their closet that would be great. ” they said it was doubtful but they would see what they could do.
Christmas Eve night i had my old barbies laid out and was sitting with my mom hoping my girls would be happy with their Santa gifts when there was a knock on the door.
Three or four Angels came in with their arms loaded with gifts! I can barely write this without crying. So many barbies and Barbie accessories and gifts for my son! It was so unexpected!
30 years later we all agree it was the best Christmas ever!

When I was around 13 my mom and I stayed at a battered womans shelter in Utah. Mormons are great people BTW. A bit nutty but incredibly generous.

My mom was in charge of making a cake one night and left out the eggs. Totally fucked the cake and destroyed the one rare treat they had looked forward to.

I have been mailing them ten boxes of cake mixes for Christmas for about 20 years since I became financially stable. No note or anything. It probably confuses them.

That’s awesome @johnpowell