Wednesday, December 2, 2009

'Tis the Season for Giving

So I can pretty much guarantee you that all of my posts from now until sometime in February will somehow involve Christmas specifically or the holiday season in general.
Today, I would like to address "Christmas skeptics." You know the ones. They dislike the overwhelming commercial nature of Christmas these days, the pressure of finding the perfect gift for someone and ultimately buying something the other won't necessarily want, the reception of weird and undesired gifts from weird (and possibly undesired) family members, the constant release of boring Christmas albums by artists capitalizing on the timelessness of holiday classics.
To these people I say: get a life. Put on a Bing Crosby record. Make a paper snowflake. Take this time as an excuse to do all of the things you know you should be doing all year.
Some ideas if you're stumped:

1. Bogged down with a surplus of toys? Do you love shopping in FAO Schwarz but your youngest cousin is 17? Don't worry, there are underprivileged children all over who would love to benefit from your generosity!

Toys for Tots - donate or volunteer to help deliver toys by e-mailing coordinator@toysfortotsnyc.org




Hope For New York Angel Tree - toys for kiddies who have a parent in prison.

2. Help fight hunger! Let's be honest, the holidays are pretty food-centric, so share the pie spirit with everyone.

Food Bank for New York City, The New York City Rescue Mission and The Coalition for the Homeless. Help feed New York's homeless this Christmas, and if you get carried away and help out all year, so be it.

God's Love, We Deliver - caters to HIV/AIDS patients in all of the boroughs except for Queens, for some reason.

Hope for New York (again) - Holiday Outreach Breakfast. Decorate, organize, cook, or serve!

3. Just a little bored? Check out these organizations and do pretty much any sort of volunteer work you like!




New York is beautiful and magical and sparkly this holiday season, but slightly less so if you're a kid worried Santa won't come, or cold rather than cozy, or hungry rather than stuffed with figgy pudding. Now stop being so grinchy and spread Christmas cheer!






1 comment:

  1. Love this! AND would like to make a request to see some more pictures of "Christmas Scenes" in store windows....Those classic scenes of yesteryear, covered with sparkly fake snow. They usually involve animated people or animals and families bring their children to see them. You know the ones I mean. I LOVE those. You gave us one -- let's have some more!

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