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[paxamicus AT earthlink.net]

I did Heifer International one year for the holidays. I am the lone  
hold out in a family full of serious consumers..every year I'd be the  
horrible one who trucked out books and art supplies and photos and the  
like. Not the flash stuff. *sigh*

One year, there was a small ground swell of movement that we only do  
the kids in the family, which I loved but one certain over achiever  
(that would be my mother) bought presents anyway so the whole idea  
went away because the other aunties felt it made them look cheap.  The  
next year I thought I might be able to capitalize on the guilt of the  
year before by getting people to do something like Heifer  
International so about a month before Christmas I did it, so people  
would know BEFORE Christmas, and then I could still bring the homemade  
presents/books/etc to the holidays.

My father rang me and asked if he was actually getting a goat. He was  
not a happy man, except that he thought his dobermans would have fun  
with it. : (

Christmas with my (extended family) is no longer a good thing.

Heh. We do a Solstice pizza and a Yule log/bonfire and a Christmas  
tree and a lot of cooking, with a few nice small pressies tucked in  
there. Lots of Christmas carols because that's my personal soundtrack  
for the holidays even if they are no longer my spiritual soundtrack.  
I've caved and just send my family gift cards from electronics stores,  
with a token handmade scarves or preserves or whatever. I do like to  
make stuff for my Dad because he's diabetic, and little sweet treats  
that have been made just for him with stevia or splenda make me feel  
nice...but the truth is he'd rather eat junk food so I expect most of  
my crunchy granola-ess probably gets fed to same Dobermans. ; p

On the other hand, I do have to say, I love getting Christmas presents  
from my Dad. Roy and I are to the point that we kind of get excited  
about going to my Dad's for Christmas. We don't even buy each other  
Christmas presents really, because whatever we get from my Dad is  
going to be too much.  One year he took all of us, my sisters, our  
husbands and kids...all on a cruise. I was all about it until I  
actually got ON the cruise, and then once I realized how really awful  
I felt about the waste...really, those things are nothing but  
cesspools of waste and excess and orgy. I wouldn't do it again.  
Although I had great fun at the piano bar.  :-D

I'm sorry. I've gone off on a complete tangent.

Yes, I really like HI.





On Jul 3, 2008, at 8:11 AM, Lisa K.V. Perry wrote:

> On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 7:23 AM, Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>  
> wrote:
>
> > Should anyone want a feel-good story to lift their day, this is a  
> > good
> > one:
> >
> > The Luckiest Girl
> >
> > Heifer International is one of my very favorite charities. We have  
> > the book
> *Beatrice's Goat*. So nice to get an update on her life. It made  
> tears well
> up -- and it's an article I'll have my 18 year old son read (who  
> sadly has
> little interest in college though he's a brainiac). Thank you for  
> posting.
>
> Lisa
> _______________________________________________