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What do you want for Christmas?

Ya gotta love this time of year – when family members you only talk to at the holidays begin calling and asking what you want for Christmas, or more likely, telling you what they want. At least that is how it has been at our house. So what do you tell them? Have you thought about asking for a cow? Or better yet, asking to be an international financier? Check out these alternative gift ideas…

  • Oxfam America Unwrapped – Great website where you can buy gifts for other areas of the world such as a cow to provide milk for a village ($75), or a buy an emergency toilet for distaster areas ($50). Of course if you are a bit more conservative, you can buy a heigne kit ($22).
  • Heifer International – Perhaps the best know of organizations like the one above. Here you can buy any of a variety of animals (or other gifts) to help families in need. Families in need can use a sheep way more than you can use that cashmere sweater.
  • Kiva.org – Loans that save lives. Perhaps you are familiar with Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, who just won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in micro-financing. This is the same idea, but on a small scale. You can loan money to deserving people world wide so they can establish what they need to sustain themselves.

It is easy to complain about the capitalistic, materialistic atmosphere of Christmas, but here is something you can do to actually make a difference.

What if we celebrated the birth of a King by fulfilling the Kingdom?

  1. December 18th, 2006 at 16:37 | #1

    This is awesome. So much of the time you just hear about the materialistic aspect of the season and it seems like everyone forgets to mention what to do about it. These are some awesome ideas! What are some other organizations that make a difference in the world?

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