Christmas Trees

TREES are one of my favorite parts of Christmas (along with reindeers or moose, and stockings). We've done the living tree with rootball to plant and pray over while it dies a slow death. We've done the cut living tree with needles all over the place and holy cow why won't it ever get straight. We've done the mini tree, where the stand (a cardboard box with a christmas tablecloth over it) was actually 2x as tall as the tree... the Charlie Brown tree, which was a tiny pine the year we made all our decorations instead of hauling them to another state. Now we have a 6 ft artifical tree, covered with a variety of ornaments (mostly handmade or given to us).

But my all time favorite? It's the one that is totally exhausting, takes 3 weeks to complete, and involves a ton of people. That's right, folks--- the Giving Tree!

At church, the Youth Group sets up 2 trees and covers them with tags that have a special code and then indicate the age/gender/clothes sizes of the lucky kids. Church folk take 'em, then return a wrapped gift with the tag attached on top. Today was "Collection Day" where the Youth Group helped folks put their gifts on the altar at church. Then after all the Masses, the kids brought them over to the hall. There we sorted, organized, counted, assigned the random tagless gifts, wrapped the unwrapped donations, and ate lunch. Our local nonprofit (another church ministry that works with Catholic Charities) came and filled their van-- totally, up to the top, with barely enough room for the driver and his helper to sit. Grand total- 400 gifts!

I meant to leave after my classes were done, but it's hard to resist taking part in the Giving Fun. Plus, the teens are always eager to play with Kade, so as long as he's willing I stick around. For most of the families, these will be the only gifts the kids get. It's easy to be stressed and overworked and worried this time of year. It's also pretty easy to be amazed by the Spirit in us all...