SANTA’S NEW ELVES

IT MAY BE A LITTLE DIFFERENT

Making a list and checking it twice? Wondering what to give the person who has everything?

Here’s some sound and quick advice which answers these two annual worries on the heads of too many people: Don’t make a list. The person who has everything doesn’t need anything else.

But, more than likely, those who fret about these things don’t want something like a practical answer at all.

One mother told me she made a list for her son last year, but she was a late shopper and the items were nowhere to be found when she hit the stores.

Oh, what must she do?

Another mother of three said her crew had every trinket on the market . She wondered what to give them for Christmas.

Let’s all try something a little different this year. Instead of shopping for the kid who has it all, shop for the kid who only owns the too-small pair of shoes on his or her feet.

Let’s shop for the kid who sleeps with two brothers in the back seat of the family car and when they got evicted from their home had no time to grab a favorite toy, or, for that matter, any toy.

How ‘bout we make a list of all the homeless shelters no more than an hour’s drive from our home. We will need to check it twice just to be sure there are kids at the place.

Now, this sounds like a Christmas to remember. A different kind of approach but one that certainly answers the yearly dilemma.

But what to tell our kids about no packages under the tree for them?

Let’s try the truth; we’ll tell ‘em they already have too much and we’ll take them with us for delivery at the shelter.

Let’s put a Santa hat on our kids’ pampered heads and give ‘em a sack with gifts – for somebody else – in their hands.

We can do this!