The past year has been a rough one for many. Even when wrestling our own chaos and overcoming our own struggles – we always know that we’re beyond fortunate to be surrounded by family, friends, our animals and this beautiful place we call “home.” While we aim to give back to the community year-round, the holidays always come with a surge of ways to help. It’s an honor and pleasure to do what we can to ensure others enjoy the season.
Christmas cards for Veterans
I absolutely love sending holiday cards each year. Between our friends and family list and Buy Sell Live’s client list – we send hundreds of cards. This year, I added a stack of cards to send along to the VA hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas, too.
It’s a very small action – but with the stress and madness of the year – anything that can remind others that we’re grateful for them and thinking of them during the holiday is worthwhile.
Community Linc family donation
Year after year, my amazing office of coworkers adopts a family from Kansas City’s Community Linc. We each donate money or gifts to provide the family with an abundant holiday. This year was an insane success – checking off their entire wishlist and loading our coworkers van with incredible gifts. She told the story beautifully on the company’s blog.
Gifts for a family
A few days before Christmas, we connected with a family that needed help brightening the season. Their wishlist was very small. More than anything, they hoped for gifts to celebrate Christmas with their small daughter.
With our own 15-month-old son and a brand new baby girl on the way – their situation really resonated with Aaron and I. Only a few short months ago, Isai was crawling, learning to walk, starting to play with his toys and learning tons. We’ve been so insanely fortunate in that journey to have an amazing support system that has lifted us up with daycare, hand-me-downs, gifts and more. We completely understood that family’s wish to give their daughter a few toys – and we wanted to help make it happen.
Aaron had the brilliant idea of picking out some of Isai’s favorite things to wrap for them. I added in a handful of the most useful items we’ve had for raising our son in his first year. Then, we picked out a collection of warm clothes and jammies that we’d love for our own little girl. The result was a giant basket of goodies that warmed our hearts and – we hope – warmed theirs too.
We didn’t want the parents to miss out on the excitement entirely – so we also packed hats, gloves and chocolate with a few gift cards that would give them the ability to buy anything else they might need for the new year.
I love that Isai is old enough to be included in the giving process. He happily rode through the stores picking gifts and testing rubber balls for the gift basket. He checked the toys, confirmed his favorites and giggled as we wrapped them up at home in the kitchen. One day, I hope he sees a bit of himself in someone else and continues to be grateful, passionate and excited about lending a hand.
The insanity of the year has definitely taught us a few things about what we’re most grateful for. I think it’s been more than a common theme in the blog that we feel extremely fortunate to live on this stunning property and spend our time with these awesome animals (in addition to each other, of course). I couldn’t be more grateful that we were able to spread that fortune and holiday cheer to others this season.