A Time for Sharing

This holiday season will be especially hard for me, as it will be the first Christmas without my Mom and I just want to skip the entire thing.But the reality is that it will happen with our without my participation. And what always makes me feel good is giving to less fortunate children. In our office we are collecting for the Kids in Distress Foundation, in lieu of a gift exchange at work. With the state of the Market today, everyone is feeling the crunch and there are so many out of work right now, so instead of spending money on people who have jobs and are pretty comfortable we are donating that money to Kids In Distress to help the less fortunate kids in our community have a good Christmas.
Also, as most of you know my friend Kelly (Caylie's Mom) and I sponsor a child in Guatemala through Mayanfamilies.com. Our sponsorship puts her through school, gets food for her family, gets her school supplies and new clothes & shoes.And during the Holidays Mayan Families does so much more for these children. This year I also donated money to purchase a Tamale Basket, which will feed 12 families for only $35. Below are the details from Mayan Families.
Click on their website to read more or to send your own donation: http://www.mayanfamilies.com/
Christmas Tamale Basket Dinners
A meal of specially prepared tamales with seasonal trimmings is the traditional Christmas dinner of the indigenous Guatemalans. But many families cannot even afford to feed themselves nutritious daily meals. Mayan Families prepares and gift wraps baskets containing enough food to prepare a festive Christmas dinner for as many as 12 people.Each basket contains oil, 15 lbs of rice, a block of drinking chocolate (the traditional drink at midnight), a loaf of bread with which they eat the tamales at midnight, raisins, grapes, apples, sugar, 5lbs of meat, tomatoes, 1lb of coffee, leaves to wrap the tamales, cloves, pepper, sesame, pumpkin seeds. As an added value, the plastic bucket that holds the groceries is a useful household item after the holidays.
Toys
We make an extra effort to ensure that every needy child we know receives at least one nicely wrapped Christmas gift. Every year, hundreds of toys and gifts are given to wide-eyed, smiling and very grateful children.
Parties
During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Mayan Families delivers tamale food baskets, gifts and even Santa Claus to poor, remote villages and orphanages.

I hope everyone enjoys their Holidays and finds time to spend with their loved ones, because it's something we all take for granted. Cherish every second you have with your families no matter how crazy they make you sometimes.

XOXOXO
Pattie