The Gift of Giving

One night in mid November a group of my girlfriends and I were trying to figure out what we wanted to do about a gift exchange for Christmas this year. We threw around ideas about secret santa but agreed that we are all terrible at keeping secrets from each other. white elephant? ornament exchange? cookie baking? There were just so many options.

We each had a couple of beers and continued brainstorming (that my friends is how genius ideas are born). Then someone came up with the best suggestion yet. She suggested we pull together the money we would have spent on gifts for each other and get things for people who need it more than we do. That's when we came up with the idea for our baskets.

There are six of us girls so we split up into two's and each pair picked a hospital. Together we created baskets to be brought to patients/families at each hospital. We had one basket for Arnold Palmer, the local childrens hospital. It was filled with coloring books, a snuggly teddy bear, travel games, cozy blankets, fuzzy socks, and much more. We also had a basket for Winnie Palmer, the mother/baby hospital. This basket was stocked with blankets, bibs, bottles, tons of clothes, towels, nipple shields, and everything else you could imagine a mother with nothing would need for her brand new baby.

The last basket we gave was the one I chose with my partner. This basket was in no way the most fun to assemble but it meant a lot to me. Our basket was for a family in the ICU. We used the same baskets that were once given to my family and I as we hoped and prayed for my dads recovery. We filled the baskets with snacks, blankets, a small pillow, a travel kit with toothbrushes and toothpaste, plenty of tissues, and an inspirational card. I remember how much it meant to my family to receive such necessities. I hope that whoever the basket went to is now home with the loved one they were waiting for that night.

On the night we all got together to deliver our baskets we were all having a crummy day. But it's amazing how giving can turn all of that around. We went out for drinks and cupcakes afterward and all agreed this would become our annual Christmas "party." Although lately I have been thinking, why wait for next Christmas?