Christmas Shopping

Well a day passed by without a post.  I had hoped to post something each day till Christmas Day.  This is sure a hectic time.  We were up and out early yesterday and started shopping.  Yes, I did say "Start".  More about that in a bit...

With large families, we made changes to gift giving many years ago.  We have gone from "grab bags", to choosing a needy family to give to, and now, someone chooses a charity in their area, then the entire family can donate to the chosen cause.  With family living across the country many causes are helped.  This year the family is donating to a Veteran's Outreach Center in Rochester, New York, where our niece is attending school and our nephew is working.

I little information about this center follows:
The Veteran's Outreach Center "provides a collaborative approach to treating the ‘whole’ veteran, enabling them to receive the breadth of services needed to restore their mental, physical, emotional and economic well being and to reunite with themselves, their family and community to resume productive lives." The Center has many functions, ranging from physical and mental clinical assistance, to employment and training guidance. The center also has several offshoot programs such as ‘Operation Welcome Home and Recovery’ and ‘The Richard’s House’ which houses Vets coping with chemical dependence. I would encourage everyone to take a look around the website to learn more about the organization- http://www.veteransoutreachcenter.org  


So, our Christmas shopping is for our children and grandchildren.  

The Chicago area family will be gathering here on Saturday for time together sharing a meal and being together.  Isn't that what Christmas is about?