Toy Drive

The sadness over losing a friend did not mean Christmas was awful. Mom being in the hospital for most of that week was stressful, as was finding out a friend was in jail, but there were some good things too.

One was that we did a toy drive at work that was fun on multiple levels.

Way back in October, we did a drawing for prizes, and one of the crew got a foam pumpkin for décor, which he discovered was hollow. Messing around with it, he cut a slot to turn it into a bank, and began accepting donations. Donations started pouring in, so we switched to a bigger bank (a panda), and Scott decided we were saving for a pizza party, which sounded like a good plan.

When the toy drive was announced, Lisa S suggested that we take part of the money for toys. There was a prize for the floor with the most participation of a party, so then we could possibly get two parties, plus help kids. Everyone was okay with that.

Our group manager and supervisors were touched, and said they would buy us pizzas, and it could all go to the kids. That’s when we went nuts. People started bringing in treats and raffle prizes for people to give panda donations, and just putting in whatever loose change they had. I don’t remember how much we raised, but I think it was around $340.

Michelle’s husband works at Sears, so they went shopping, using his employee discount I think, and got a ton of toys. In addition, many people bought toys as well, and we blew away all of the competition, even the spirited third floor. That felt good.

Our pizza party was great. The prize party was this cold cut spread that for some reason looked absolutely disgusting to me, so I did not touch it, but still, we won, and I was amazed at how competitive some of us felt about it. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming food drive goes, because after collecting it we also make art of it.

There were two other revelations for me. One is that Walgreens had some amazing deals on toys. I never thought of them as being a place to shop for toys, but they had some really good ads, so I went in, and they had awesome toys!

That leads to the second revelation, which is that buying toys is really fun. We don’t really shop for Christmas, and the youngest people in the immediate family are 34, so it’s just not an issue, but it is so fun. And I can see that for some parents, who are worried about money, and giving their kids everything they want, so that their child does not feel bad when their cousins are bragging (and yes, I do see some things wrong with this) lose some of the fun, and I get that, but I had fun. One the one trip I ended up with four big shopping bags and I had gotten some deals, let me tell you.

Also, I may have some issues with impulse control.

Alma 36 – 39
12093 steps