I have a list a mile long filled with my "favorite" things about the holidays. Items include, wrapping gifts, watching movies, looking at Christmas lights, sitting in front of the fire, snuggling next to the tree, drinking copious amounts of coffee, all the adorable Christmas clothes.... and so on. But, one of my absolute favorite things that we do each year is our annual shopping trip with the Munsons for the Food for Families Food Drive. We long ago decided that we wouldn't exchange gifts between our kiddos - we clearly have enough toys and we know that we all love each other, so what better way to spread that love than through giving to others?
We grabbed all the kiddos after school and met at HEB to start the task of crossing off needed items from the Food Bank list. Radley and Caroline got to push the cart since they are the oldest - we mistakenly thought we could keep the littles occupied with list checking but that lasted about 3 minutes before they requested to walk around.
Cindy and I kept talking about what we were doing and why each of the items was specifically listed - especially when they wanted to buy something like Frosted Flakes instead of Cheerios.
Moments of this annual tradition are just like this picture - a blur. Six kids, twelve hands, endless excitement and 2 mommas. HA!
But slowly, the night comes into focus and our hearts become focused to what matters. I've taken my kids to volunteer at the Food Bank with my students a few times and Radley recognizes the bags that he sees some of his school mates place in their backpacks on Fridays.
They don't really KNOW hunger and, God-willing, they won't ever have to.
What we do want them to know is that it's important to take care of others. It's important to give what you can.
And it's important to surround yourself with others that do the same.
We filled our baskets and headed to drop off all those items that will hopefully bless families more than we can imagine.
I can't wait to see where this tradition grows - because if I know me and Cindy, it will grow. :) What more can we do as families to feed the spirit in others?
For now, we love that we can feed the spirit of these six and hopefully create in them a desire to give back, to lend a hand and to give of themselves for a lifetime. What a gift they are to us and how thankful are we to be trusted with these treasures!
What are some of your favorite family traditions??
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