Christmas 2014 was, by any measure imaginable, the best Christmas ever in the relatively short history of my small family. The gifts were wonderful, and the thought behind each was even more so. The most exciting part of Christmas 2014 though, the part we each stopped to reflect on while we peeled the paper off the bundles and boxes nestled beneath our trees, was that we gave more than ever to local kids this Christmas.
For years we’ve been participating in the Sponsor a Child program to ensure that thousands of local children in need wake up on December 25th to find ribboned and bowed packages from Santa and the elves. We signed up for two kids this year, as per usual, and did the shopping to purchase a 3 year old boy and a 7 year old girl each new bikes, jackets, books and toys. But with only 48 hours left in the program in early December, we heard that there were more than 200 kids unassigned. That’s unacceptable, so we added a third to our responsibility and went over-budget again, because a $100 recommended spending limit, an amount that hasn’t budged an inch throughout the duration of our involvement with this great program, is ridiculously and unreasonably meager. Try buying a good bike, a helmet, a quality jacket, and a single decent toy (let alone a book, a game, an outfit or two, a stuffed animal & extra toys) for a total of $100!
Thankfully, we got some help this year. I owe a big thanks to Wonder Forge and Yoxo for believing in this cause and sending me terrific new toys to share with kids in need. Wonder Forge gave a Spiderman Trickshot game (seen below about to be wrapped) and a Tickety Toc matching game, and Yoxo chipped in with a pair of amazing Orig Robot kits!
Their kindness freed us up financially to supply each of our kids (and supplement the child my parents sponsored) with so much great stuff — multiple outfits, jackets, hats, gloves, sneakers, bikes, scooters, helmets, books and lots of rad toys.
With Wonder Forge and Yoxo’s assistance, we know that we helped make each child’s 2014 Christmas brilliant, which made our 2014 Christmas the best ever.
