'Tis the Season to be Elfish

Click here for my Query Blogfest Entry.

Being Half-Elfish (no seriously, my ears are huge, my body is short, what else could I be?) I really do enjoy giving more than receiving.

It took me two weeks but I managed to bake:

18 mini loaves of Banana Bread
18 mini loaves o Zucchini Bread
139 pieces of Fudge

150 Lemon Cooler cookies

200 Fattigman's Bakels cookies (Norwegian)

124 Mint Chocolate cookies
200 pieces of Divinity

For a total of 849 pieces of baked goods divided up amongst 30 boxes of baked goods handed out to neighbors or mailed to family across the states.

Do you bake for the holidays? I learned this custom of passing out baked goods from my mom. I think it's nearly a lost art though. Mainly because baking is expensive.  I realize I do way more than most but still, a bag of walnuts is nearly $10. Nothing about holiday baking is cheap.

Let's face it, nothing about this holiday is cheap. Sure, I save a lot by doing Black Friday but I put all that savings and more into my baking, wrapping paper, tape, labels, postage for 150 xmas cards, postage for packages, and Christmas activities for my family.

So, for me, it's hard to dig that much deeper for donating to charitable causes. But I love to give. So, over the years I've found some charitable causes that don't cost me a dime, or hardly anything. Some years have been better than others so I've found ways to donate that don't cost a lot.

Locks of Love: I grow my hair out for two years and then hack it off and give it to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that "provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis."
As a matter of fact, I just did it today.

 

 Can't donate your hair? Here's the rest of my list:

• Lit World Book Drive I found this charity through Heather Kelly's blog Edited to Within an Inch of My Life. This charity takes new OR gently used books for their drive.
• GoodSearch the search engine that donates. Just choose your charity (mine is NaNoWriMo) and search for anything on the Internet. Your chosen charity will earn money per click through.
• Cell Phones For Soldiers I love this charity. It was started by kids. The goal is for you to send in your old cell phone which will be recycled and then soldiers will get prepaid phone cards to call home with. Are you getting a new cell phone for Xmas? Here's your opportunity to donate.
• It's always a good idea to clear out some space for new toys. When we do that, our gently used toys go to Kids Rewind or Goodwill. Kids Rewind will give you cash "on the spot" for your gently used stuff. You can also purchase other gently used items while you're in there. Can't beat that.
• It won't cost you a thing to cut your Box Tops for Education and take them into a public school of your choice. I've been on the PTA Board as the Auditor at my children's elementary and I can tell you for certain that collectively those Box Tops raise a decent amount of money that goes back into the school.
• SunnyD, our most favorite orange beverage, has a Book Spree. Basically, schools that participate by turning over 20 labels/class will receive 20 books in return. The school that submits the most labels can earn $2,000 worth of books or $1,000 worth of books for their school. Get going. If you already drink SunnyD, then start saving up those labels for next year's Book Spree.

Charities Worth Your Hard Earned Money: (Something to think about in the New Year. Maybe add it to your Resolutions.)

• Miss Snark's First Victim  Now, I didn't get a chance to participate this year, but I know many of you did. That hasn't stopped me from giving her a small sum to keep the event going. I hope to participate the next time. Any amount will do, really.
• NaNoWriMo Your money doesn't just ensure all of us crazy writer's have an opportunity to participate again next year, it also provides for the youth writing program.
• Any Soldier I love this program. There are a lot of soldiers out in the field that aren't receiving care packages, or letters. This cause collects donations and then puts care packages together and sends them to soldiers who don't usually get anything.
• Adopt-A-Family for Christmas sponsored by the Salvation Army. My high school participated in this cause. It's epecially rewarding if you can get a group of families in on this. The year I did it, our donor family had lost their job, the mom was sick, and all they wanted was something for Christmas for their kids. My class got a tree and decorated it. We all bought gifts,wrapped them and then essenially brought Christmas to this family with a Ham for their dinner. We made sure the kids were at school so they didn't have to know their parent's couldn't afford Christmas that year. This was one of the greatest and most memorable charities I've ever participated in.

DO YOU HAVE ANY CHARITIES, NOT ON THIS LIST, THAT YOU PREFER TO DONATE TIME, MONEY, OR EFFORT TO?

DONATING BUILDS GOOD KARMA. AS A WRITER, I'M RELYING ON GOOD KARMA.

I HOPE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU ARE HAVING A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON.