What started off as a way to add less to our to do list (and toy pile) has easily become a day that I look forward to most each year. We've gone from juggling car seats and diapers to managing six extremely eager bosses helpers.
Each year we fill our buggies with the same essentials from the list of needs but our conversations grow in depth and meaning. The kids have filled backpacks stuffed with food that some of their friends take home on the weekends. While they don't know what it feels like to wonder about our next meal, there is a very real possibility that they know someone that does.
We load up our car and head to the Brazos Center to make our donation to the annual Food For Families Food Drive. They obviously compete to see who can lift the heaviest bags and fill the cart the fastest. And I try to etch each and every second of these moments into memory.
I hope I never take these moments for granted. I hope that as they continue to grow older and time gets shorter and lives get busier that we still find the time to do what counts. I hope that the memory of this tradition matters more than the memories of what Santa leaves.
And I hope that when they have kids of their own, they continue the tradition of giving back and paying it forward.
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