Stuff the Stockings Full of Stuff

I am seriously thinking of eliminating our traditional Christmas gift giving practices. As I look at the piles of unrapped presents waiting to find homes, I find myself defeated. I have even found a few things that never found a place in our home from last Christmas! I try so hard not to bring uneccesary things into my already full home. Do we really need all this "STUFF"? That's what it is... just stuff. Nice stuff, pretty stuff... necessary stuff?

Next year I want to adopt a family who really needs stuff... and celebrate Christmas gift giving in a different and much more meaningful way. I think about all the broken and grieving families affected by the Tsunami and how great their needs are compared to my life. It doesn't take a devastating event to put people in need either. There are people in need in my very own community.

It's such a throw-away society that we live in today. I shop almost exclusively at thrift stores for things we need. I hate to see perfectly good items being tossed aside. There are many people who will just toss unwanted things away because it is too much of an effort to bring it somewhere where it can be recycled. It is such a waste...and I don't understand. I feel like I'm doing my part by shopping at the thrift stores... I'm not adding myself to the supply and demand equation.