Share-A-Gift this Christmas

As America celebrates Thanksgiving, I'm thinking a bit about thankfulness here in our little home too.

We don't do Thanksgiving but I know I have much to be thankful for. For a loving husband and beautiful, healthy children. For the opportunity I have to be a stay-at-home-mum, and one with help at that. For the fact that even though I'm not working, I can still indulge in Black Friday Sales and generally not have to worry much about money. Do I think I'm blessed? You betcha.

It hasn't been as easy teaching my kids to be thankful and content though. There's my son, who tells me that he "only likes new things", and thinks that it is par for the course for people to "sometimes go and stay in a hotel for fun". And my little daughter too, who wants everything her brother has and howls when her "Want this!" directives are not met.

I've got my work cut out for me huh.

With November speeding to a close, I've been thinking about the activities for the kids to have fun with during Advent in the run up to Christmas. And one of the things I dearly wanted to do this year was to incorporate more of a giving element. Because I want the kids to learn that Christmas isn't about the gifts you get. That we already received the biggest gift with the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. That this time is also a good opportunity to give to others in need, and yes, be thankful for what we've got.

So one of the things I've decided we will be doing is to support The Boys' Brigade Share-A-Gift Project. This is a community service project run by The Boys' Brigade to collect food and gifts for the poor and needy that is into its 25th year this year. Do you, like me, remember the big "Sharity Gift Boxes" found along Orchard Road years back? I remember seeing folks drop off huge parcels and wondering what they were!

I've supported this project over the years but this year, I want to do more. As part of our Advent activities, I plan to get the kids involved by bringing them along to:

1. Buy food items to donate. There is a list of suggested items on the Share-A-Gift FAQ page which I plan to use as a guide.

2. Drop off the food items we bought at the collection points. 

• Main Gift Box: (Open Space between Toa Payoh Entertainment Centre and Blk 192 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh
• Collection Centres:
• FairPrice Finest @ Bukit Timah Plaza, Junction 8, and Thomson Plaza
• FairPrice Supermarket @ Bedok North A, Bukit Merah View, Bukit Panjang Plaza, Eastpoint Mall, Rivervale Mall, Tampines Mall, and Toa Payoh HDB Hub
• FairPrice Xtra @ AMK Hub, Jurong Point, and Nex

3. Picking up a wish from one of the Wishing Trees and going to shop for the gift to fulfil it. There are 3 Wishing Trees located at the 3 Fairprice Xtra stores listed above.

4. Signing up to deliver food hampers to the beneficiaries. I've signed us up for the Car Flag Off Event, which will be taking place on 8 Dec and 15 Dec. You can check out the delivery schedule here.

It's a bit ambitious, especially since I'll be bringing the kids along, but I'm going to give it a shot. I think even if we manage only a couple of activities, it would go some way to making our Christmas extra special. 

They've made it so easy to get involved that if you're unable to physically donate items at the gift box, you can even do it online! Just click over to Fairprice Online and they have pre-packaged hampers in $20, $30 and $50 denominations ready for gifting. Just pay and you're done!

Say you'll join me in making a difference this Christmas?