The answer to that question is simple. Absolutely. You see, when you’re a child, all you can think about is the gifts that you are going to receive. But when you get older, you realize that one of the most important things about the holidays is what you give to others in your community… not what you receive.

Thinking back on the last few years, I realized that my favorite memories of the holidays were helping out with Christmas Cheer.

Christmas Cheer is an organization that has the primary goal of providing toys for children and food for their families for the Christmas holiday. Also, the money goes toward warm clothes and food for the families. Basically, in order to help out, you can either ‘adopt’ a family to raise money for, or just donate to the charity. If you ‘adopt’ a family, you are responsible for coming up with the money to help out that family. Over the years, my family and I have helped out with a few different families through this organization. We have raised a lot of money for the organization, and I am very proud of this.

Also, we hosted an underwear drive for some homeless shelters this past year. (the cover picture is of the underwear that we were able to buy).

For us, the holiday season is about giving. During the years that we helped out with these two projects, we did not get presents for each other, and we did not ask for presents from other people. If they were insistent on buying us gifts, we asked them to donate money to the cause instead.

The point of this blog post is not to show you what we have done, it’s to show you that it is simple to help out during the holidays.

Volunteer for an organization, create your own drive for something, or even just donate money. Whatever time, energy, and money that you can give is greatly appreciated.

Giving means more than receiving, and it feels a hell of a lot better to give back to the community.

This year, I’m hoping to do some volunteering at a local soup kitchen or something. I can’t wait to see what this year brings.

All in all, remember what you were put on this Earth to do.

As a Christian, I know how important it is to give back, as that is what God has sent us to do.

Enjoy your holidays, and as always…

Stay Golden,

Emily

Today, I may be celebrating myself, but more importantly, I’m celebrating my parents.

Without them deciding that they wanted the blessing of another child, I wouldn’t exist. They could have very well just had one child and decided that was enough.

But they didn’t do that. So, they had a beautiful baby girl on November 14th, 1996.

Not only am I celebrating my parents for having given me life, I’m celebrating them for shaping that life into what it is today.

I’m celebrating them for twenty-one years of dealing with me, of parenting me. I’m celebrating them for teaching me the difference between right and wrong and that everything has consequences (good or bad). I’m celebrating them for their ability to always cheer me up after a bad day, or just make me feel better when I’m sick. I’m celebrating them for making a house a home and a family more than just the people you live with.

They didn’t get to choose the child that they created, but they got to choose what type of person I grew up to be. Parenting is a big part of what makes us who we are. And they did an amazing job.

So thank you, Mama and Daddy, for giving me life, and the ability to live it how I should to be the person I want to be.

I love you both so much.

Happy twenty-one years of shaping me into the woman I am today.

Stay golden,

Emily