A charitable Christmas
I know what you’re thinking, “it’s a bit early to be thinking about Christmas?” Well, I would be inclined to agree with you, however today I ordered my charity Christmas cards on the internet marking my first step towards Christmas. I’ve always bought charity Christmas cards and in recent years have made more steps towards charity donations in lieu of presents but this year I’m considering stepping it up a notch!
I love Christmas but I want to claim it back for Christians. It’s about the birth of Jesus. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give each other gifts but I think it means we should take more care to give something that will make a difference to people and the world, be more ‘Christian’ in our gift giving you might say. In the third century St Nicholas distributed gifts among the poor where he was living. That’s a far cry from the bearded red-suited Father Christmas dishing out Playstation 3s and bicycles to children who already have too many toys! But I think St Nicholas would approve of giving money to people who need it more than we or our family do at Christmas.
I’m going to try to only buy things this Christmas that will make a difference in some way. I’ve thought of a few ways already. I’ve already told you about my charity Christmas cards, there are also charities that have gift catalogues where a portion of your purchases goes to the charity. There are lots of charity and fairtrade shops that I can go to buy gifts. Then there are the growing number of alternative gift catalogues and websites where you donate money which pays for a particular gift to someone who needs it, then you present your friend or family member with a card detailing the gift you have given in lieu of a present for them. Tearfund has taken this a step further with their Living Gifts scheme. This time you give your friend or family member the card which has a code in it, they then go on Tearfund’s website and type the code in, whereupon they have a choice of gifts they can give. If any of you have any other ideas be sure to let me know.
And if any of you are thinking of giving me a present then why not donate that money to charity instead. It’s not that I’m being ungrateful, I just know that old St Nick would look at the world around me and see a lot of other people who need a present more than I do.
