It is better to give, than receive!

With blonde rascal having no siblings close in age I sometimes worry about his ability to share. He does not have anyone at home to have to share his toys with or argue over what movie to watch or fight over what story to read at bedtime. I know those of you with more than one kid are saying how lucky for me!!! But I don't want him to be a brat and I want him to know that life is full of compromises. You win some, you loose some! So I am always looking for ways to reinforce these life lessons, when he tells me situations that happen at school or while playing outside with the neighbors and there is a tiff, then I sit him down and we discuss all of this and the right way to handle it. Probably MUCH to his dismay! But it is really a concern of mine that he is not learning these coping skills at home naturally by way of dealing with siblings. Geez, this motherhood "to-do" list of raising responsible children is a killer!

Along that note comes Christmas and all the greed and materialism that society, or more appropriately the media, forces on kids this time of year. The most important thing I want blonde rascal to realize about Christmas is that we are celebrating the birth of our Saviour....sure there is fun and gifts and traditions, but the core is the birth of Jesus. Add to that just exactly how lucky the little toot is, how there are children who may not get anything for Christmas. We are so blessed and because of that we need to share!!!!

Our church supports "Operation Christmas Child" where you fill a shoebox with goodies and they ship them off all over the place to needy children. So a few weeks ago when they announced the kick off of this event at church, I leaned over to rascal and told him that he could do a shoebox for a boy his age. Then I thought..."Hey I want to do a little girl! I could buy lots of little girl stuff...pink, fluff, glitter, dolls..." STOP and pay attention to the pastor's message!

So blondie and I had a great time picking out stuff for our friends to go in the shoeboxes. Too much fun!
How was all of this...



going to fit in this??

I did end up having to upgrade to a little larger shoebox for my girl!

Rascal was in charge of loading them up with sugar, something he ranks as very important!

Not to worry though, I got them accordingly a spiderman/ barbie toothbrush and toothpaste!

I just had to make the baby doll a little blanket....



Blonde rascal really enjoyed this and talked a lot about the kids that would get these boxes. For days he has wondered about them and talked about what they would like best out of their box. He is at the perfect age to grasp the idea and I hope it tucked away a little nugget of "sharing" in his brain!


Here is a little boy with no female siblings....

"Mom, how do you wrap up a baby doll???"