TAPLINK

Support for
Pennsylvania
Adoptive & Foster Families

Taproot issue 50 - December 2005

Family Christmas Traditions

Come and Give

Whenever our family hosts a birthday or holiday bash for the kids, the invitation always includes a request for specific donations. One Christmas, we asked each family to bring a pair of mittens, then donated them to a school to give to kids in need. At my daughter's birthday party, we asked the kids to bring backpacks, which we donated to a local foster children's organization. My children enjoy brainstorming an appropriate gift for each event, and it teaches them the importance of charity.
--Beth

Case Work

My family and I have come up with an easy, inexpensive, and lasting way to celebrate the moments of our lives. We mark special times like birthdays, the beginning of school, and holidays by making pillowcases out of festively patterned material. We have pillowcases covered with Easter eggs, basketballs, and rodeo cowboys. We even made a vivid green one crawling with brightly colored lizards to mark my son's intense interest in reptiles. My children think it's a fabulous treat to sleep on their special pillowcases, and we are constantly reminded of some wonderful times.
-- Lynn

Secret Santa Surprises

My kids, loved having Secret Santas in school, so they asked if we could draw names at home too. In lieu of giving presents, though, the four of us, including my husband, decided to do nice things for one another instead. It was such a treat to come home at the end of a long day to find that, for example, someone had crept into my room to straighten out the shoes on my closet floor. And the girls were thrilled when they found that someone had fed the cats for them or made their beds. Amid the bustle and activity of the holidays, it was wonderful to see our children focus on performing selfless acts for others. We all got a chance to thank our Secret Santas on Christmas morning, when we revealed whose name we'd drawn.
--Renee

Pass it On

Each year after Christmas, our Camp Fire group runs a request in our school newsletter asking for old Christmas or other greeting cards. The response is always wonderful! When the holidays come around again, we recycle the cards by cutting off the fronts and gluing them to sheets of construction paper that we've folded in half. We write our greetings inside and deliver the cards to a local care home, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the veterans' hospital. We all have a lot of fun and for very little money are able to bring smiles to so many peoples' faces. This year, our goal is to make and deliver 2,000 cards to people in our community.
--Karen