'Tis the season to give!

I haven't felt very Christmassy of late, but this week's snowstorm certainly cured me of that. Hard to not feel the holiday spirit when your latissimi dorsi are protesting the slightest movement from an hour and a half of shovelling, right?

Today, December 11, I have most presents bought, or at least thought of. Andrew and I are pooling our money this year to buy gifts from World Vision's Gift Catalogue. We don't really need any more stuff (particularly since we just buy the stuff we want throughout the year), so we decided to instead spend the money we would spend on each other on useful things that would help a family in need. He's really glommed onto the idea of a goat. I haven't yet decided what I'll pick: I tend to veer towards medicine or school supplies. But I suppose all the drugs and books won't help unless you have food in your belly first.

Tonight is my workplace Christmas party. We're going to dinner at a restaurant called Little Turkish Village. Decent food, great service. And it's a gift exchange too: this year's theme is mittens.

Although we've been directed to spend only about $10-15, I've had another, slightly more expensive idea. But if I go with a related, but more expensive gift and no one else does, I don't want to look like I'm one-upping my co-workers. It's also not clear to me if these mittens are actual gifts to the recipient, or if they're gifts that will later be donated to charity.

Either way, I'm sure the recipient has actual mittens or gloves of her own, and even if they are for charity, surely 25+ pairs of mittens are better than one, right? Oh, wait, did I mention this gift is a multiplier, and so is worth five times that, i.e. clothing for 125 people? No? Well, yes.

World Vision is awesome. And before non-religious people start worrying that since World Vision is a Christian organization they're all about converting the masses, rest assured this isn't the case. I'm sure they preach in countries where Christianity in its many forms is one of the common religions like Mexico or Chile; but in countries like India, Nepal, or Senegal where the predominant religion is Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism, they actually respect it instead of trying to change it. Neat, huh?