Get Your Ho Ho On. (as seen on www.herrochester.com)
By Pam Sherman | December 22, 2009
Our holiday ended last week when Hanukah’s 8 crazy nights closed out. But in keeping with the spirit of the season I am ho ho ho’ing and yet wondering where are the carolers, the bell ringers and the santas? And then I realized they are all at the mall, a place I’ve sworn to avoid until at least Martin Luther King Day. Is it possible to get into the season without shopping? Yes. And here’s how our family does it. My husband’s birthday falls on the winter solstice - the shortest day of the year. Each year we pick a charity and pass around a flyer in our neighborhood asking for donations for that charity and letting our neighbors know that we will make the delivery for them on my husband’s birthday. This year in combination with our incredibly generous YPO Empire Chapter and our neighborhood we received boxes and boxes on behalf of the Center for Youth, a shelter for teens, started by teens. www.centerforyouth.net. Imagine the lesson for my young kids to make a delivery and meet two teenagers from the shelter who, like total gentlemen, offered to help us bring in the boxes. We don’t know their story, but we did meet them and saw first-hand the good this place does for our community. Check out ways to make a difference this season. It may be at the mall at the Salvation Army bucket, but it might be a neighborhood bucket to collect for others in need. I got my ho ho on by helping others this season. And that’s almost as good as hot chocolate.
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