10 Days of Christmas

I was reading on the news wire today that participating in the 12 Days of Christmas is outrageously expensive these days.

It would cost $78,100 to buy the 364 items, from a single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, repeatedly on each day as the song suggests, according to some annual pricing survey. The cost is up 4 percent from $75,122 last year.

That's a lot of money -- considering it will be all over a month from today already. (I know. Sorry to mention that.) Hopefully there are a lot of people out there who understand that turtle doves and maids-a-milking are not what the "season of giving" is all about.

The fourth-grade classes at Grant Elementary have a neat project going on. They are raising some money this holiday season for the domestic-abuse shelter in Wisconsin Rapids. How are they doing this? Thankfully, not selling pizzas or overpriced trinkets. Instead, each child is committing to doing some household chores for the next week and a half to earn a special allowance that will be donated to The Family Center.

Carter decided on five chores: make his bed, clean the litter box, fold his laundry, take out the garbage and shovel the driveway (I sure hope we don't need his services for that one in the next 10 days!)

We asked him how much he thought he should earn. Somehow he came up with $7.25 -- I remember he said $3 for shoveling and I think $1.25 for laundry. He read us the list and Jim and I are smiling because he's so precise about this. "What?" he says. "Do you think $1.25 is too much for the laundry?"

We tell him that the thing is, he should be thinking about what he wants to be able to give to the center, not so much about what a real allowance may be worth. We already had a figure in mind (definitely more than what he proposed!). We asked if he'd be willing to do these chores for the next 10 days so he could earn that amount -- and give it to The Family Center so they, in turn, can give some unfortunate families a merry Christmas. He enthusiastically said yes.

I applaud the school's efforts. I think it's a great way for kids to learn young that this is the season of giving, not just getting, and that it won't kill them to work hard in order to help others. That's why some of us give to the church and to charities all year long.

The spirit of giving should not be limited to Carter's 10-day project or the 12 days in the song. Don't you agree?