Remember that feeling you had as a child when you woke up on Christmas morning and just knew that there would be presents waiting for you underneath the tree? My brother and I would get so anxious that we'd be out of bed by 5 and tip toe into the living room, occupying ourselves with what was in our stockings until our folks woke up and we could finally unwrap the packages with our names on them. Some of the presents were "just what I wanted!" and while others may have been "oh, hey, thanks" the thing that mattered then, the thing that still matters all these years later, is that there were presents for us.
Now imagine what it would have been like if there were no presents, no stocking, probably not even a tree. Try as I might I cannot; but that unimaginable past is the all too familiar present for many children. Families just trying to get by don't have the good fortune to buy lots of gifts, sometimes any gifts for their kids.
The good news is there is hope and that is where you come in. The LAFD, along with other local fire agencies and ABC Channel 7 are hosting Spark of Love, a drive to collect toys for kids in need. When we heard about it, Meg and I bought a toy, ready to drop it off at our local station this weekend but as I was reading my Twitter feed tonight I saw that they are still struggling to get enough toys in time for Christmas.
So here is the thing- for each of the first 15 of my friends who will share one of their favorite Christmas toy memories with me, Meg and I will buy and donate another toy to the drive. You can post it on my Facebook wall, tweet it, email it or just comment on this post but you only have 48 hours! Monday we will go and get the toys and then deliver them. How easy is that?!
If you want to help even more you can donate a toy yourself, it's simple and the details are all here
Thanks for your help and Happy Holidays to all!
PS- thanks to ShellyS for the use of the photo (via Flickr)!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Toys for Thoughts
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3 comments:
Not a friend (yet) but picking up the gaunlet from Fresno...
My best Christmas toy memory was a four-foot-high wooden doll house I got when I was eight or nine. It was made of thin wood and came flat in a box with all the pieces not quite cut out. I had to press out all the shapes, then assemble like a giant puzzle. (Insert tab A into slot A) Thinking about it now, I realize for the first time that parents were probably intended to assemble before Christmas morning, but I loved doing it myself. It had furniture, people, and decorations. I decorated and redecorated that thing with paint and wallpaper samples a hundred times. It was heaven for a tomboy who sometimes liked to play dolls, too.
In young adulthood, my favorite toy memory is the years I spent volunteering with Spark of Love. Though I was a delivery driver and rarely saw kids get the toys, just knowing the joy that I was helping deliver was such a blessing. I remember the empty barrels a week before Christmas, and worrying that needs wouldn't be met, but LA always came through. Usually because of some inovative way people came up with to motivate each other. And here you are! On behalf of the kids... Thanks for making a difference and Merry Christmas.
Joy-
Thanks for the memory and for helping with the project!
A friend of Marc's. When I was very little (about 5 yrs old), I was into "My Little Pony." I was excited to have any and all accessories for my small collection. Being from California, my family visited my grandparents in Indiana. During our visit, my two sisters and I had to squeeeze into a queen size bed overnight. While sleeping, I had a dream that a shopgirl asked what I wanted for Christmas, and without hesitation, I belted out in my dream - "I want a My Little Pony Castle!" When I woke up in the morning, my sister angrily told me that in the middle of the night, I smacked her in the face while I shouted for the pony castle. We laughed about ever since, and randomly shout "I want a My Little Pony Castle!" around the holidays.
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