The Best Part Of Christmas

It's really become the most meaningful part of Christmas for me to do something nice for others. I love picking gifts for my family, but donations have been growing on me too. This was my second year to donate Christmas stockings to the families at the St. Joe's NICU, and it's a humbling ritual that I look forward to continuing and improving upon.

Leslie gave me a great Christmas gift this year, a gift card for a website called Network For Good, which lets you choose which charity to contribute to! I got a flier for a charity called The Smile Train recently that I thought was a superb concept, so I was excited to forward my gift to them. The Smile Train funds surgeries for cleft lip and palate for kids in impoverished areas. It seems like such a simple concept that has such a direct impact on one person's life.

A few months ago I encountered a similar site called Donors Choose, which specializes in funding school projects. I contributed a donation to an art class, and was shocked to receive several hand written thank you notes from students that got a few digital cameras for their class thanks to this website!

If you're ever hard up for a gift, for someone who has everything already, take a note... It's good stuff.