Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Christmas Wish List

I belong to a largish clan, well-scattered over the 50 US states, and [mostly] we all like each other. We [mostly] all like each other enough to enjoy exchanging Christmas presents.

But with dozens of cousins and such all over the West, Midwest, Alaska, Hawaii, and even that outpost of civilization, Washington DC, I was spending beaucoup bucks on presents, wrappings, boxing and shipping.

We're all more or less middle class, comfortably well off, and can usually go out and buy whatever we want. Besides, none of us needs more stuff.

So, several years ago, we all decided to take whatever money we wanted to spend on a person and donate that amount to the charity of that person's choice. Or to the charity of our own choosing, if our loved one[s] expressed no particular preference.

My wish list this year:

adopt a panther
adopt a kid
set somebody free
help somebody live their final days as well as possible



If you would like to donate to a charity, but wonder if your money will be used wisely, you can always check them out on the web:

Give.org
CharityWatch.org
CharityNavigator.org
even the government [FTC] is watching out for us

4 comments:

Keifus said...

You're one of the good ones, hipparchia. I want to tell you it's different with kids, and it is different but still...

Usually for the holidays, we'll get a family get-together going, so gift exchanges and other pagan rituals* are a nice thing to do in that context. But it still ends up being a clutter-fest, despite all the promises of last year. (Actually, we don't even get the kids gifts anymore--I think my mother is making up for not having little girls.)

There's arguments to make for keep sending stuff to the western family too (the most positive is that it keeps us in touch), but I sure didn't need to buy my brother a $70 kitchen gadget.

K

*feasts and fires and wine. The pagans have all the best rituals

hipparchia said...

hehe.

confessions of a doting aunt: there are a coupla kids i do buy presents for. great excuse for hanging out in toy stores.

the rest of the family members have to be content with emails and phone calls, but i can tell ya, we're none of us slouches in either of those departments.





dwozexo

i have no clue what i'm going to do with that one.

Keifus said...

Dude, wowza! That's exotic.

K (if I understand the game correctly)

(Also, I think you could make it risque if you went with a Dr. Ruth accent.)

Anonymous said...

yes, you do, i think. i'm not sure i can do a convincing dr ruth, but you're right, it does lend itself to that.