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Saturday Rant

I'm guessing from the number of armed robberies that I'm seeing on the news lately and in my Facebook feed, that the bills from Christmas have started showing up in people's mailboxes. It's tough to remember what all the hype is about just a few weeks afterwards. I'm serious, here, what was your favorite gift from Christmas this last year and what difference has it made in your life so far?

I ask because this year, I happened to get a gift that I had not received before that seems to be getting better with time. We did a little some thing different this year with some of our extended family. Instead of exchanging gifts for one another, we gave charitable donations. One of the things that I "got" was a latrine, some trees, and hand washing station. My daughter "got" goats, a pen and vaccinations for them. I've been thinking about her gift a lot, because her gift is a very real way of providing income for a family. And not just a short term income, with the proper education of animal husbandry, this particular gift could provide income for many generations of people. She helped changed the course of some one's life by receiving a donation instead of more toys.

I'm not going to lie, she wasn't too pleased with the fact that she didn't get a lot of toys like usual. Though she still got quite a bit. It's one of those gifts that isn't going to end up at the bottom of a donation box one day, with it's history forgotten and it's beginning a long time behind it.

I'm thinking for me though, it's what I'm going to do from now on. I'm going to ask for charitable gifts from here on out, hopefully it will keep me from robbing the local gas station to pay the Christmas bills and help others, too.
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