I don't usually enter into my Christmas blog in May, but I hadn't heard from Operation Christmas Child about my trackable boxes, so I wrote to them a couple of weeks ago. They told me my three boxes went to Zambia.
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Zambia/
Now I'd prepared boxes with three themes: pink and cats (I hope they didn't take umbrage at that--see Harry Potter 5); Barack Obama; and Michael Jackson. I wonder if the packages went intact, and if the kids who received them liked them. Probably Obama and Jackson would have gone over big there.
Now I've heard that OCC takes boxes all year round, so I've been setting aside "giving money" and buying things to prepare boxes to send. I'm doing another Obama theme, mainly with stuff from Ty--different versions of Bo, the White House dog, and two little girl dolls that are obviously modeled on Sasha and Malia (Malika?). I also found patriotic USO candy hearts in Duane Reade.
Another theme is The Catcher in the Rye. Obviously I won't include the novel, but I'm including things which are referred to in the novel, such as ducks, catcher's mitts (two cheap children's ones I found in the local Walgreen's), and little model NYC taxis. In fact, I prepared two Easter baskets for an Easter donation drive for the foster children in the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. I didn't include the novel, but I did include in one basket the poetry of Robert Burns, and in another The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck by Beatrix Potter.
Here's a list I created which may indicate what I put in the baskets (well, not entirely): http://www.amazon.com/Catcher-Rye-Gift-Basket/lm/R7T7LM71AALL6/ref=cm_lmt_DYNA_f_1_russss0?pf_rd_p=496996711&pf_rd_s=listmania-center&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00002SWW9&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1533DV9N2V3W6R3A5VJ7
I've recenly read To Kill a Mockingbird, and maybe I'll take the Audubon Mockingbird and find things resembling the stuff Scout and Jem found in the tree near the Radley place. Then there's The Chocolate War: football and chocolate--not actual chocolate, except chocolate hard candy, but chocolate-themed items. I just found a couple of interesting ones at HersheyStore.com:
Leila is graduating from college this week, and Angela graduates from high school next month.
Because I couldn't afford much more than Dover Thrift Editions as gifts this Christmas, I took the virtual gifts listed here and made them into a Note of presents on my Facebook page on or around Three Kings Day. Now a couple of family friends liked and noted my entry, but none of the family wrote any comments. Truthfully, I don't get followed much on Facebook. Now Leila, on her birthday last month, got greetings galore! She seems like she has what it takes to make it in this world.
Now when you go shopping outside the Christmas seasons, you find things you don't find in November or December--summery things like toy catcher's mitts and baseballs, and patriotic candy for Memorial Day, Flag Day, and the Fourth of July. (These candies would fit the Obama theme.) Many of the countries don't know winters like ours, and summer gifts might be more appropriate.
http://www.neccostore.com/red-white-you-sweethearts-boxes.pd
http://www.neccostore.com/red-white-you-sweethearts-bags.pd
