The Conservative Way to Spread the Wealth Around

The media is full of stories about increasing unemployment statistics, the failing stock market, range wars over financial bailouts for banks, industries, states and cities and all manner of terrifying news for the common man. It is no wonder that people are holding onto their wallets and being very conservative at this time of gift-giving. I talked to some friends earlier today who had been doing Christmas shopping at the several of the local malls. They commented that the malls were not very busy given the time of the year. If we don't spend, businesses aren't profitable and they can't afford to keep employees or expand services, so more people are placed under financial hardship and now there are more people who cannot spend and a vicious cycle is created. There are more people this year who might be looking at a less than happy Christmas season than in previous years.

So what might we do this year to mitigate the hard times that are upon us?

Support the little mom and pop enterprises in your community..whether it is the hardware store or the local eatery, keep it local if you can.

If you have a bit of extra money, may I suggest that you use it for a charitable cause that will aid those in need. Making this a family project will teach children that it is more blessed to give than to receive and help us to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Some suggestions that are easy to do are:

Give to the US Marines Toys for Tots drive.
Adopt a family or an individual through your local church or hospital and use your resources to give someone else a memorable Christmas. The whole family can get into the spirit by shopping for the adopted family together and planning on the best gifts to give.
Contribute to an orphanage or child welfare group so that children without family ties are not forgotten at this time of year.
Support the Salvation Army by putting any money, even your spare change in the bell ringer's kettles. Even the widow's mite can be put to use. Challenge your children to save money that can be contributed to help others.
Rather than giving gifts that will be returned on December 26 or never used, donate to a charity in the name of the recipient rather than giving a gift. Many charities are seeing their donations fall alarmingly this year and are in great need in order to continue to provide their services.

If you are strapped for finances you can still give the gift of time by volunteering or giving of yourself.
You can clean a house for someone who is physically unable to do some housekeeping tasks.
You can help at a food pantry, soup kitchen or homeless shelter.
You can help to wrap presents to be distributed by any number of agencies.
You can read to someone who is visually impaired.
You can volunteer to help elementary school children in literacy programs.
You can drive an invalid to treatments, doctor appointments or therapy.
You can make meals for an elderly neighbor who cannot get out easily.
You can take a shut-in to the grocery store.
You can offer to baby sit for someone who needs to look for a job.
You can invite someone who will be alone for the holidays to join your Christmas celebration.

Getting away from the mercenary message and back to the true meaning of Christmas is something that we need and these trying times can be the impetus to return to a simpler, purer Christmas. My husband and I have chosen not to exchange gifts this year and instead have participated in several activities with the money that we would have spent on each other. In so doing, we have been blessed. We have chosen our projects together. We have set aside Saturdays to shop together for our adopted families, and other projects. We have spent entire weekends together working on the projects we have chosen and have truly enjoyed each other's company. We have more Christmas spirit than we have had in several years.

Come join us and spread the wealth around!!

Thank you Sarah Palin!

There is no doubt that Sarah Palin has left her mark on the 2008 Presidential election. Now that she is back in Alaska, she is still the target of the MSM in an attempt to neutralize her. The measure of her mark, however can be found at Team Sarah where members are still joining and the membership is just shy of 60,000 members today!

The grassroots effort to unify the conservative voice to be fully prepared for the 2010 election is gaining momentum through a variety of alternative media sites such as Smart Girl Politics, Team Sarah, #dontgo movement, Grizzly Groundswell and the conservative voices on Blogtalk Radio to name just a few.

As we have just finished celebrating a national day of Thanksgiving, it is worthy to reflect on the things that we have to be thankful and for the things that have made this nation great. Sarah Palin is representative of these ideas and ideals and for this we should ask why she represents such a threat to the left in this country? This should explain it:

Young At Heart

Today my husband and I were guests at a surprise 80th birthday party for the mother of one of our closest friends. My friend and his wife had the family, of course, but they also invited several of Betty's (not her real name) childhood friends who still live in this area and have remained close over the years.

After Betty got over the fact that the party was for her and not for her granddaughter (as she was led to believe), she saw all of her childhood friends and the reunion was underway. You know how when families get together there is often a "kids table" when it comes right down to eating??? Well, in this case there was an "Octagenarians table" and then there was everyone else.

It was delightful to sit back and watch the people at that table as they laughed and joked and giggled over the meal and then the opening of the gifts and finally the birthday cake. To hear them talk so lightheartedly would belie their years and infirmities. There were canes hung over the chair backs and several of the ladies never left their seats, allowing the younger members of the family to take "orders" and serve up the cake and ice cream, but the spirited banter from that table was ageless. Jokes were followed by loud gales of laughter and wisps of conversation floated across the room. Were it not for the white heads all around the table, you would have sworn that the gaiety was from a table of much younger men and women.

We all need to witness something like this from time to time to force us to see the life and vitality in our older population. Too often I am afraid that we push the aging off to the side. We forget that just because their bodies are frail, their minds and spirits remain nimble and eager for the same fun and enjoyment of life that we all crave.

My husband and I have a New Year's eve party every year and the guest list includes my 87 year old mother, my good friends who gave the party today, Betty and her 81 year old husband, a neighbor who is a widow, another 70 year old neighbor and his wife, a 90 year old widower who lives down the road and an 86 year old couple who are Betty's brother and sister-in-law. No one lives more than 2 miles from our house and at about 12:20 AM everyone leaves in a group, but throughout the evening the conversation is spirited and sprightly, the young and the old share stories, opinions and LOTS of food. Everyone comes dressed up and brings something to share on the buffet table. We know that if it was not for our party all of these people would spend New Year's Eve at home the same way that they spend most other days.

The elderly often become depressed and bitter because they see that they are no longer included in the vital activities of society. Their agile minds are trapped in fragile bodies that require some degree of dependence on other people and they feel that they are a burden. They have so many stories to tell and experiences to share that are lost because we don't include them in our circle of friends. It isn't January 1, but this could be just the right time to re-prioritize life to include the company of the elderly. If you no longer have your own grandparents or aging relatives, you might consider adopting someone in a senior living center or nursing home and inviting them to be a part of your life. There are many elderly who live in these facilities, not because they must, but because they have no one else to turn to that would allow them to continue to live a more independent lifestyle.

What a wonderful thing you would be doing for yourself and your family to reach out and bring new life to someone who may have been thrown away by others as having become worn out and useless.