So here's a challenge for you. Do you send out Christmas cards? I always do. It's fun for me to think of the loved ones in my life and send them a special little surprise in the mail. I want them to know that I'm thinking about them. That although we're separated by considerable distance, I still really treasure them in my heart and miss them. And every year it's a struggle to think of who's going to make the "cut" and who isn't. I wish I could be one of those gals who sends cards to anyone and everyone I've ever loved. But I can't. Financially and time wise, it's just not possible.
My husband and I have made choices to keep Christmas simple and give to projects that will bless beyond what we can imagine. And that means keeping the Christmas card list simple as well. That why around Sept, I make my initial list of recipients, and then as the months move on, I can watch for specials and even begin to whittle away at the list. From Sept to Nov, I go over my list from time to time and think about those people, slowly decreasing the number of recipients. Yes, it's hard, but it forces me think about who I really want to reconnect with.
And what do we do with the money we save as we simplify Christmas? We support our church's Advent Conspiracy project that changes from year to year. We want to give to projects that will improve lives around the world. Projects like providing water for the world's population. Check this out:
How will you simplify? How will you give?
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When u first posted about Christmas it really got me thinking.
Last year we did a 3 gifts a piece representing the 3 gifts Jesus received on his birthday for each of us and then one gift for each family member like our moms,brothers,etc.
Though I felt really good about that - I felt like something was missing.
So inspired by your first video on Christmas I looked up the US population to see what our cost would be for getting clean water out there. If it costs $10 billion for clean water everywhere as the video says, using the latest population count for the US that I could find was July 08(303,824,640) this equals to $32.91 a person! So my family of 4 would need to give $131.65!
It may seem like a lot but it's not for getting clean water throughout the world!
If you do one quick meal a week for a family of 4 for whatever reason such as a game day or bible study night,etc your looking at about $20 no matter where you go for your quick meal. Giving that up for a month and having sandwiches @ home - you've got $80 toward your total!
As you can see I'm excited - I just wish this could really get out!
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