It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here we are with the Christmas season upon us once again. This past year has been the most difficult year of my life. Hands down. 2012 will bring better times. I can feel it. When I tell people about this blog and my project for 2012 I get a very mixed reaction. Some think I'm crazy. "You could buy  ______ with that much money!" Insert anything imaginable from lots of chocolate to a horse, both being absolutely the LAST things I really need.

 Some make the argument that I should be saving this money for my children's college. Indeed a wise idea. However, I do already save money for my children's college and I believe teaching my children how to give may be advantageous over hoarding my money at this moment in my life. A different year may hold a different view, but this is my view this year.

 This is shamelessly stolen from a great article about 30 things to stop doing to yourself:

 "Stop being scared to make a mistake - Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing.  Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success.  You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did."   

This is how I feel about this project. I could wait until the single day when I feel I am ready enough or have enough money and I guarantee that day will never come. I don't think that giving can be a mistake.

Every year, I participate in the Holiday Helpers Christmas tree at my job. And every year, I end up spending too much money. It's fun and I love to imagine the people whom I will never meet opening their presents. I typically choose the strange ones, the ones left on the table when all the easy ones have already been selected. And after I've wrapped my present and put it back on the table, I never feel guilty about the over-indulgence like I would had I spent too much money on clothes for myself or that extra pair of shoes. And it is this feeling that I want to replicate in my year of giving.

So this Christmas I have paired back. There won't be mounds of toys for the kids and useless clutter for the adults. What there will be is time. The indulgence of sitting on the floor playing with my children with no better place to be!

I wish everyone a joyful, safe, and loving Christmas season.