Monday, October 25, 2010

on generosity, sort of

My darling granddaughter, Megan, ten, is endlessly passionate. Here is my recent phone conversation with her.

Megan: Mimi! Our family has the BEST plan for Christmas. We are going to draw names to give each other a small gift and then each of us is going to choose something from World Vision and give an animal to the people who are poor. I saw the information and it made me SO sad ... I am so glad to give to them and not spend it on ourselves.

Me: Oh, that is so great. I love it! Fabulous idea. So... how are your violin lessons coming?

Megan: Oh, I am playing really good. But my violin fund is not very good. I only have $30.00 in it. (Note: $25 of that is from me.)

Me: Well, you don't have to worry about that. Christmas is coming. ... Oh, we aren't doing that for Christmas.

LARGE PAUSE

Megan: WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?

Me: Well, we aren't giving big gifts, we are giving to World Vision.

Megan: MIMI!! That is JUST OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY. You are not in our immediate family.

Laughing... right. Got it. Message is clear.

5 comments:

Krissi said...

I laughed out loud at that while reading it in my living room. You're not in my immediate family either, so feel free to buy me a gift, too;)

Karen said...

Oh, Mimi - she's ten. I think I'd rename that blog as "on generosity" and skip the "sort of". I think she's doing a great job of getting her priorities in order. Plus, she's hilarious.
Oh, and along with Krissi, I'll just add I am also open to gifts this Christmas :).
PS - we actually give a lot of our gifts from either the World Vision or Samaritan's Purse catalogues. Also, Kiva gift certificates are a fun idea.

111 said...

hehe! yep. that's our girl. :)

Anonymous said...

Very funny! Good for her to be thinking of it at all. Way to go, Rachel!

I have, just this AM, been perusing those catalogs, too, trying to think what I could give to my kids that would relate to their interests or another gift that I might give them. I think (I KNOW, in some cases) they would not be too impressed just to get a goat, but to receive two related gifts--one they could use and one someone else could use, that shows how blessed they really are--I, personally, think that would be a great idea! (We moms are always looking for "teachable moments," regardless of how old our kids are!)

Happy Shopping, Mimi!

Sharon A.

Mrs. Cooper said...

Meg's violin teacher hereby confirms that she is, indeed, "playing really good." Delightfully so. I sometimes wonder who looks forward to her lessons more - me, or her :-)