2009-12-22, 08:14 PM
This year, I was hosting my church youth group Christmas party, and I decided that we'd do a gift exchange game, with the budget of "under/around $10". However, one of the mentors got mad, as he felt that we should've spent the money on charities instead, so after some discussion, we stuck with the $10 gifts, and had the option to donate to charities with extra money if we wanted to.
For some reason, people usually just give me cash for Christmas, and this year, my grandmothergave me 20, which is more than she usually does...not much, but a decent amount. At first, I donated $30 to a charity called "Mt. Currie" or something, which was a charity to help disadvantaged first nations people, 20 from my grandmother, 10 to match the 10 I spent on the gift exchange. However, my uncle came up to me after service and gave me $50, so I just simply went and gave that to the charity as well.
For me, instead of spending money on presents for people, I take whatever money that I would've spent, and give it to various charities. Perhaps its just the people I know, but they seem to appreciate me donating to charities than actually buying them stuff. It's funny, cause thinking back, I remember as a kid, when my parents suggested donating the money I got for Christmas to charity, I'd be outraged at the idea and flatly say no and be upset and whatnot, and now, I look towards donating towards charity instead of keeping/spending/buying things for others with it. The $10 gift exchange, I bought a $10 gift card from Vivo Gelato, the best ice cream place in town (apparently... I havent actually been there before), and a $5 to Starbucks for another gift exchange.
That being said, what that old lady did for you was really nice. I'm not you, but if that happened to me, I'd feel that was better than any gift with money value I could've gotten. Yeah...I have strange tastes in gift receiving and giving, lol.
For some reason, people usually just give me cash for Christmas, and this year, my grandmothergave me 20, which is more than she usually does...not much, but a decent amount. At first, I donated $30 to a charity called "Mt. Currie" or something, which was a charity to help disadvantaged first nations people, 20 from my grandmother, 10 to match the 10 I spent on the gift exchange. However, my uncle came up to me after service and gave me $50, so I just simply went and gave that to the charity as well.
For me, instead of spending money on presents for people, I take whatever money that I would've spent, and give it to various charities. Perhaps its just the people I know, but they seem to appreciate me donating to charities than actually buying them stuff. It's funny, cause thinking back, I remember as a kid, when my parents suggested donating the money I got for Christmas to charity, I'd be outraged at the idea and flatly say no and be upset and whatnot, and now, I look towards donating towards charity instead of keeping/spending/buying things for others with it. The $10 gift exchange, I bought a $10 gift card from Vivo Gelato, the best ice cream place in town (apparently... I havent actually been there before), and a $5 to Starbucks for another gift exchange.
That being said, what that old lady did for you was really nice. I'm not you, but if that happened to me, I'd feel that was better than any gift with money value I could've gotten. Yeah...I have strange tastes in gift receiving and giving, lol.