How Not to Be a Grinch

My daughter is blessed.

She’s blessed because she won the birth lottery. She won it because she lucked out and got my wife and me as parents. She didn’t win it like Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith’s kids. She’s neither Whipping Her Hair Back and Forth nor desecrating classic 80s movies. But she’s doing well.

Warning: Here comes the sappy part.

She has a lot of people who love her. From parents and grandparents to aunts and uncles.

Warning: Here comes the sad part.

Some kids don’t.

Now maybe it’s just me, but the moment I had a daughter I became a bit of a sap. Like the Grinch, my heart grew three sizes and broke the heart x-ray machine. My heart now goes out to kids who aren’t as fortunate as her. Especially around the holidays.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the “buy more gifts” whirlwind. But my daughter doesn’t need more toys. Some of her toys have barely even been touched in months.

Besides, the point of the holidays is not to bury my daughter in a pile of molded-plastic-batteries-not-included-toy detritus. She doesn’t need to swim in gifts like she’s Scrooge McDuck. The point of the holiday is to be kind and giving and to drink all the eggnog.

So we’ve decided to give back – to spread some holiday cheer. My daughter will have a good Christmas. Hopefully because of us some other less fortunate children will too.

This year some of my daughter’s toys won’t be there on Christmas morning. Her gently used toys will disappear. The key word is gently used. Her aggressively used toys will continue to be aggressively used.

But her gently used toys will end up aggressively used by children who need them. And we’re going to spend our Christmas budget to give back to those who don’t have a Christmas budget. And we’re going to look for more ways to be giving and generous.

‘Tis the season after all.