Christmas is the season of giving, right?  It can, however, also be the season where everything becomes a little too hectic and you lose sight of what's important. 

The Brainy One and I give to charity all year-round and have done since we were first married. This year, so many more people are in need of extra support and we've thought a great deal about how best we might be able to help.

Here are four ways we're embracing the season of giving:

  1. Donating money and dry foodstuffs to a food bank.  We donate cash to the food bank where our brother-in-law is a trustee and cooker of Christmas lunch for 50+ homeless people, and we donate a basket of groceries at our local supermarket.
  2. Donating a Christmas gift to a charity local to us and filling a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child. 
  3. We've supported the Metropolitan Police's Christmas Appeal again this year.  I bought gift vouchers to donate to a teen the same age as The Boy.
  4. Donating a pint of blood.  Supplies often run low over the Christmas and New Year period, so maybe consider donating a pint as a Christmas gift to yourself.  I'm donating on the 29th.  British readers can find out more here.