It wasn't the first time I said it, but this year I meant it. If ever there was a right year to bow out of running Christmas Crazy, this was it. I often say that everyone has 24 hours in their day. It's up to us all to figure out how to use those 24 hours. That means nobody is any busier than anyone else. It's choices, really. Right now choices have me up to my eyeballs in chaos.
It would have been a good year to quit.
It wasn't just the chaos, though. I have a fear that I will post "Let's do this!" in regards to Christmas Crazy and will be met with the sound of crickets. Every year I get nervous that it won't work.
Every year you prove me so very wrong.
This year you proved me wrong to the tune of about $10,000 worth of toys, electronics, and gift cards.
If you're keeping track, then you know that makes this the biggest year ever.
By the way, there were no corporate sponsorships this year. No big shipments of motorized hamsters or endless boxes of awesome crafts or cash from an event padded the pile. It happened one person at a time, little by little.
This is what a whole bunch of people can do when they decide to do something. You've shown hundreds of kids that someone cares. You've shown those kids that they matter. You've made sure Christmas morning is a little bit more special.
Thank you for blowing me away again, internet.
(More about the delivery and such tomorrow. That chaos just woke up and is summoning me. ;-) )