I hate to come off as some kind of do-gooder, but (inspired by Russ) my wife and I decided to do something different this holiday. On our last babysitting tour of duty, we couldn't help but notice that our two grands, ages 3 and 5, have like a gazillion dollars worth of toys of every type and description, filling both their bedrooms and their upstairs and downstairs playrooms (my son has a VERY large house).

With their parents approval, we decided to forgo giving them Xmas presents this year but instead, take them shopping for toys to give to a local children's shelter (actually, a shelter for homeless families with children). They picked all the presents (toys that they wanted for themselves) and then we took them to the shelter to deliver the toys. I'd like to think we taught them something about sharing but sadly, the three yr. old cried when he had to part with his . I'm sure it felt like me having to give my Nord C1 to a down-on-his-luck musician. I don't think any lessons were learned that day, but we felt like we'd at least tried. I've got a sneaky suspicion that they're still expecting something under the tree, so the concept may be lost on them at this age. We'll keep trying.

Happy holidays,

chas

[This message has been edited by cgiles (edited 12-19-2008).]

[This message has been edited by cgiles (edited 12-19-2008).]

[This message has been edited by cgiles (edited 12-19-2008).]