DD 2013: Day 3 - Give

In response to so much "buying" between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, they have now created "Giving Tuesday."  While I didn't participate in the other "events." Giving is always part of our Christmas celebrations so I used this nudge to focus on giving yesterday.  Above is the full spread.  The right page is about giving and the left is about missing my Dad.  Yeah, so my one photo, one story plan is falling slightly off the rails, but I'm fine with that.  I'll explain more below.

Here is the right hand page with the pages behind it removed.  The upper corner is the word "GIVE" again adhered on a smudge of gold glitter stickles that are hard to see here, but neat in person.  Then, on both sides of the transparency I added these bursts, stars, and dots from the SC Kit. 

 Below is a collage of the charities we gave to yesterday.  I talked through the concept of charitable giving with my kids and told them what groups Brent and I donate to regularly (Oklahoma Regional Food Bank, Myriad Gardens, Child's Play, Project Night Night, Heifer International, OU, GW, NPR, St. John's Catholic Church, Wiggle Out Loud, etc...)  

Then we talked about why we give money to these groups.  I liked that B asked interesting questions like why do we give money to the Myriad Gardens as he didn't see a tie to how that was helping people.  I explained that we support them because they create beauty in our city and hold events that enrich our community. I think they are growing and building the city of OKC with their plantings, educational outreach, but also by community building. (Yes, I'm a new donor to the Myriad Gardens this year, because I'm so impressed with its evolution lately). 

At the end, B chose to donate to Child's Play (also Brent's Christmas choice).  M chose to donate toys and warm clothes to her school as part of its clothing and toy drive. I donated to Project Night Night on behalf of E.  We also did a few other small donations based on our conversations and I encourage you to think about giving this season too and talk about it with your kids. I'm not going to say it was an easy concept, but it is important so I took the time and several approaches to try getting them to think about it more. 

This other story needed a place too. It might fit well in my "more magic" section at the back, but it is also sort of part of the giving story as my parents were definitely the ones who instilled in me the need to give back and help others.  Yesterday, Audra's crew visited for awhile and we went to the cow calf hay-- a small restaurant that I think my dad would have liked.  The little grandsons he never met both had on their overalls and were looking very cute.  My kids and Zane took turns riding on these saddles and I just know he would have loved it.  I miss my Dad and am trying to carry on the lessons he taught us with our kids.  That twinge of sadness is a real part of my holiday season so this seemed like a good space to fit it in with a picture of our very cute overalls boy. 

Crafting note - the card here came with one of my SC kits. I just added the zig zag washi for a bit more color and visual interest.