December Date - Volunteering

Christmas has come and gone.  :o(  I'm hoping to catch up on blogging soon because I am SO behind.  For now, here's the next in the series of the Dates for a Year Basket ideas.

For December, I had a lot of different ideas.  I could map out where they could drive around and see Christmas lights, send them to Opryland and/or ICE for the night, go get their picture with Santa, etc, etc, etc.  You get the idea.  There are a thousand and one things to do to celebrate the holidays.  I decided to go a different direction for a couple of reasons.  One, I find myself getting so wrapped up in the other fun events of the holidays that I forget to focus on the true meaning and spirit of Christmas.  Second, I knew that we would be doing a lot of those fun things together this time of the year, and didn't want them to be overloaded with that.  And third...I had already planned some stellar dates for the Spring and my budget was getting pretty tight. :o)


So, what I decided is to let December be another open-ended date that kind of just kick-started the process.  This date is all about volunteering and giving back!

Here's what was included in the December envelope:

• Date Card
• Two Packets of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix

Here is the date card that was included in the envelope:

The cost of putting this date together was free (I already had hot cocoa mix).  I thought that using this month, when my budget and theirs was tight, was a perfect time to have them volunteer together.  I MEANT to include a list of ideas, but am just now realizing that I left that out (sorry, Kim & Larry)!!  However, it is really easy to find ways to volunteer.  You could go online and search your community's name and volunteering opportunities.  You could find a project that you can collect items for or make things for and send them off.  One thing that we did as a family this year was Operation Christmas Child.  This was something really easy and fun that we were able to do at home together.  If you belong to a church, they almost always have some opportunities for you to volunteer your time, money, and/or talents.  I'm sure you could search and find more than a handful of opportunities that interest you.  

So that is December's date!  It's certainly not the most creative, but I think it's one of the more sentimental and one that will create memories that will last a lifetime.  I'm hoping Kim & Larry found something to do this first married Christmas that means something to them and that they can possibly make an annual tradition.  This is date is number 6 of 13.  Fun and exciting dates are just around the corner!  Stay tuned!