Christmas Tradition

How many of you get overwhelmed by the daunting task of doing neighborhood Christmas gifts? I remember a few years back needing to put together over 30 gifts for neighbors. Keeping track of who brought what, and what I brought people, became a time consuming part of the holiday season. Four years ago a few of my friends got together and we decided to put the money we used on neighborhood gifts towards a good cause. We wanted to come up with a way to cut down on the time and money spent on these neighborhood gifts. Although they are a wonderful way to show your neighbors you care, it can create a headache and unnecessary expense for many families (especially in today's economy!) So..if your neighborhood needs a new tradition, give our 'Christmas Neighborhood Drive' a try. All it takes is someone to make copies of the flier, and a few people to hand the fliers out (we use the scouts or young girls in the neighborhood to do the passing out--a great service project)!

What does our neighborhood do? We have put together several different drives, but the most popular drive has been the food drive. Most everyone has food in their pantries and food storage (another great reason to have food storage!), so it is easy to put together bags of food and donate them to the neighborhood food drive (or cash). We put together a small flier that explains where to drop off the food and encourages the neighbors to put the flier in their window so people know they donated to the food drive in lieu of doing neighborhood gifts. (If you would like a copy of the flier to hand out in your neighborhood, email me and I can send it to you Shandra@dealstomeals.com)

Save money, do something for someone else, and make your holiday season a little less stressful!

**Another added bonus to this service project--LESS treats brought to the door, meaning a few LESS pounds gained each holiday season :)