Christmas Two-fers

I think every year I - we - struggle with the mindless spending and consumption during Christmas. Don't get me wrong - I love the holidays. I love the smells, the food, the lights, the music.....the way my girls get excited that they get to watch their Christmas movies (we put them up Jan.1 and they aren't allowed back out until Thanksgiving!).

But now, especially after Africa, and even more after truly pondering this thing we've made Christmas into.....well, you know the story. I always have this image of Jesus walking into one of the White Elephants we all have and knocking over a table with fury. Bloggerville is blowin' up with mommy's blogging about this very subject.

SO.

I thought I'd share how we plan to attack the materialism this year. We're gonna just do it.

Yes. I said "just do it". And by that, I mean, materialism with a meaning. Most of our adult gifts will be in the form of a Christmas two-fer. There's adorable, adorable tees out there that either directly support a mission we believe in or promote awareness of it. At around $25 bucks each, 1) we can't think of anyone in our family who wouldn't love to sport one of these fresh tees and 2) it's a gift with double meaning and purpose.

Here's a few examples:
http://www.visitingorphans.com/ (If you buy one of these, you are also registered for a free mission trip like the one to Uganda that we went on this summer!)




http://www.147millionorphans.com/
These baseball tees are so cute and my niece already has one and loves it!

http://www.visitingorphans.com/

Another example of a cool guy's tee.....

and of course there's the fabulous http://www.sixtyfeet.org/

I wasn't able to save a shot of their tee, but you can see my post about it here.

I realize with this post I gave away ALL the element of surprise for my family....but it was worth it if means one extra tee is bought this Christmas!