Be an angel

With Christmas shopping fully upon most of you out there, I'd like to take a moment to ask you to consider those trees at the mall with the little paper ornaments on them. You know the ones - where each little paper angel or whatever represents a child who needs a Christmas present.

All you have to do is stop at the table in front of one of these trees and ask for an angel. They give you information about a child and their age and sizes or tell you what that child has wished for for Christmas. (The programs vary, so it will depend on where you are/what group it's for/etc.) Then, while you're shopping, stop and pick up an item or two for that child. Usually, they tell you not to even wrap the present(s). Just drop them back off at the display when you're done.

Now, if you don't want to go through the hassle of finding that gift, tell them you'd just like to make a donation to a child. Often, they'll accept it, because beyond a certain date, they have to hope they have enough donations to buy presents for the unclaimed ornaments on those trees.

No, you'll never see the child's face when they open the present. But someone who cares about them and couldn't afford to do more than feed and clothe them might.

No, you're not gonna get credit for it. But, how often has a random act of kindness made your heart a little lighter or put a smile on your face?

And if you're one of those people who don't believe that those trees really make a difference? I speak from experience when I tell you that you're wrong.

I was one of those angels on those trees twice in my childhood. It made a difference.

I talk about a place I spent two years in as a boarding school. It was actually called a girls' home. The girls I was there with were there for different reasons. Some never heard from their parents while they were there, because they'd been in so much trouble before they'd been placed there. And some were like this little girl I remember the most clearly - Sue.

Sue was only 12 when I met her. She had been in the girls' home for nearly 2 years already, and she was still there when I left. She probably stayed until she was 18. Her grandmother was her guardian and too sick to take care of her. Her mother was a drug addict. Her father was MIA. Like about half the kids there, her tuition was paid by donations from a local church. The only presents she got on Christmas were the ones given by total strangers who picked up her angel from one of those trees.

You'd spend five or ten bucks on a present for someone in the office whose name you picked out of a hat, right?

Please make a difference for a kid this year.

And thank you to who ever picked up my angels. I never knew the true meaning of generosity before I saw a present from a person I would never meet.