G is for Giving

Remember my brilliant idea to do "alphabet activities" with Mason? Ummmmm. . yea. Remember how the last activity I posted about was in, I dunno, like October?

Okay. . .so clearly I'm not the best about keeping up with this. But we DID get through the letter "G." In December. I suppose this is a bit (a lot?) delinquent, but I figure it's better late than never. I'll try to be better with "H!!!"

Before Christmas, we took Mason to pick out a child from the "angel tree." Before we had kids. Rip and I used to make an annual event of shopping for children in need. Always one boy, one girl. This year, we wanted Mason to "run the show," so we let him pick. It was so heartwarming to see him deliberate, then choose one name from the tree. He chose a preschool-aged girl who asked for a "Little People Playset." He was so excited to shop for her and pick out something he thought she'd like.

Even though it was for a girl who probably dreamed of the Little People Happy Sounds House, Mason just KNEW she would want the farm. He was very insistent, so we let him select the farm.

I think the most special moment of the experience was watching Mason pay for the gift. We give him $1 in assorted coins every week, and he must divide it into "spend" (50%), "save" (40%) and "give" (10%) piggy banks. After the whole year, he had $4 in change in his "give" bank. Which he proudly carried around WalMart in a Ziploc bag, then gave to the cashier like a champ.

He was so proud that we didn't let him see us secretly slipping the cashier our credit card to pay the difference between his $4 contribution and the cost of the farm!

As soon as we got home, we talked about what we had just done, and asked him if he knew why it was important. I almost cried when he said "some little girls and boys have parents who don't have very much money for food or presents. We helped them have a Christmas, too." Oh, what a sweet boy!

And of course, we practiced the letter "G." G is for giving!