The Giving Season

Today, I got some amazing Christmas cards in the mail from new friends! I participated in the #uglydogs card exchange (a group of dog mushing enthusiasts I "met" on Twitter when it was a better place). These 2 people sent their cards to the amazing Blair Braverman and Quince Mountain (BraverMountain Mushing), who then ran them by dogsled to the post office, so they really were "Trail Mail." It truly ignited the holiday spirit for me.


I have also participated in  a stocking exchange with a group of online women. This exchange, started by someone who had had one too many years of gas station fruit in her stocking (thank god that's not Patrick!), is a very fun exchange and way to get to know members of the group more. There were two "orphan stockings," so today I dropped off some extra things to the organizer to fill them.

Last week, I held a usable gifts exchange at my places here everyone could bring giftable items they had sitting around, and others could "shop" from them. It was a lovely gathering, and I dropped off the leftover items at a neighborhood free market exchange.

We also hosted a cookie swap that night, and my book club had another cookie swap yesterday. My mother used to make 15-20 different kinds of Christmas cookies every year, and I FAR prefer the exchanges!

We've also dropped off food for food drives, toys for toy drives, and participated in a special gift drive that targeted kids in need at Beatrix's old school, which was really fun.

(We also did Beatrix's Girl Scout annual service event at Feed My Starving Children, which I am always super-mixed on).

As you all know by now, this is a really hard time of the year for me. But being able to give and exchange things, especially in this kind of open way, helps a lot!

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