We do a holiday gift guide for charity, plain and simple. I’m not sure if those of you who read blogs understand how much work and time really goes into a review guide. Some bloggers sell the items they receive, and I could do that but I don’t need to. I’ve been blessed by God, I have a healthy family and my husband has a secure job. So I use all my energy doing a gift guide of this magnitude to benefit others. I just really get a kick out of making a difference for someone else. Take this photo for instance.

This is a photo of a student that is learning to speak English on a tablet that I gave to my church, and they handed to a teacher they knew that was using tablet devices to teach students. I usually participate in the Tweet Drive in Seattle every year but instead this year, I donated all my toys to the YMCA. They are going to spread the toys out amongst their tree wish list and use some of them throughout the community in different projects they have going on next year. Our family picked one of the families on the tree and we had Zoe and Miles help pick out things to give to the children while my husband and I found things for the adults. It was a great project that helped encourage our children to give. Ashley also donated all the toys she received in our holiday gift guide.

We also love surprising people with gift baskets and door drops. We hope as the year goes on and into next year to continue to surprise families with gifts. It’s so exciting to see the gift of giving grow as more and more people to decide to share what they have with others. I have a friend who received pumpkins for pumpkin pie. She made two pies and gave one of the pies to someone else. It’s a gift that keeps on going. We hope as a family that we encourage others to have that attitude of giving.

If you’re looking for a way to teach this lesson to your children I just recently came across a really cute book. It’s the The Sparkle Box: A Gift with the Power to Change Christmas. The boy in the book, Sam, really wanted to open the sparkle box to see what was in it. And I laughed because as soon as we put our box together Zoe wanted to open it and find out what was in it. Like most young children, Sam is so excited about Christmas. He’s busy thinking about his Christmas list, anticipating holiday parties and puzzling over the sparkly box sitting on the mantel above the fireplace. Throughout the Christmas season, Sam and his family participate in various acts of kindness and service to others.  On Christmas morning, Sam finally gets to open the Sparkle Box, where he finds slips of paper recording the family’s good deeds during the holiday season.  Sam’s parents explain that the things that they’ve been doing for others are, in fact, a gift for God. This uplifting story will inspire readers to adopt this new tradition in their homes. It was a great lesson and we were able to write things down as a family to put in our sparkly box.

We did receive a copy of the book to review.