The Best Present of All

I’ve got an adorable picture today, featuring very happy kiddo’s. Let me tell you, brief moments in time can be deceiving. The road to our Random-Act-of-Kindness was a very long & hard one. I saw a posting on our local facebook page for a Shoebox Program, one of the other moms was collecting the boxes to drop off with our German local point-of-contact. Samaritan’s Purse, who runs this program, is one of my favorite charity organizations because so much of their work & monies actually goes to the good cause/end recipients. I decided that we could share a shoebox full of goodies with some less fortunate kids.

This also sounded good to my kids! Dane wanted to do a boy, just like him, and Tess wanted a girl, just like her. Off to the store we went. This is where it became almost unbearable. It was very exciting picking out stuff for their boy & their girl, not so exciting when they learned they were going to be giving this totally awesome toy (and awesome shirt and awesome hat and delicious candy) to their boy & their girl. I wasn’t buying two of each, I was buying only for their boy and their girl. Presents are not cheap, and a shoebox holds an amazing amount of stuff. We had crying. And meltdowns. “Mommy you are SO mean.” In the store.

I did not leave the store with my calm or dignity fully in tact. I did leave the store with only goodies for their boy & their girl. Once home I again explained the Shoebox Program and shared the 2011 Report. We also talked about the kids in the photo’s. It made it a little bit easier to give up these boxes. Dave and I both helped them pack and wrap their boxes. Then I had each of them write a letter to their boy & their girl, complete with a photo. Finally, and this took a lot longer than I anticipated, we were done. Even better, once we were done (and I think a little bit because the goodies were out of sight) my kids were very excited to give their gifts. Both have been speculating wildly about who will get their present, where do they live, what will they like best.

I think they don’t know yet who really got the best present of all this year.

About the Author: Toiny

My name is Toiny (pronounced Twa-knee) and I am the Studio site owner and a Designer at heart. I especially love creating word arts and tools to help others create. I learned photoshop from my Father-in-Law while printing alien t-shirts for the tourists in Roswell, NM. Once I touched photoshop, I never let it go. It's a creative addiction! I currently live with four-out-of-six kids, my husband & two ornery cats in the Black Forest, Germany. Or as they say in German: Der Schwarzwald. I design under the name: Schwarzwald Design at the Studio.

One Comment

PeggyNC 21 December 2012 at 5:56 pm - Reply

Congrats, Mom, on hanging in there despite the embarrassment, begging, pleading, meltdowns, etc. I am sure you had the sympathy of every other Mom who has also taught this very valuable life lesson to their kids! I myself am one of them, and I was too frazzled when it was finally over to get any photos, let alone one as good as yours. Thanks for sharing!!

The Best Present of All