'Tis better to give...

Anyone who knows me knows I love to buy stuff.  As evidenced by my permanent wardrobe of hoodies and jeans, I have clearly begun to focus my buying power elsewhere.  Enter my kids.  I love any excuse to find them a pretty new hair bow, or a cool toy that I know will capture their imaginations.  But as much as I adore a trip to the toy store, I also want to make sure that my girls know how lucky they are.  I want them to experience the joy in giving, and get just as jazzed about that as they do a new doll.  The Valentine's Day party at Ava's school gave us a great chance to throw a spotlight on the spirit of the gift.

I made a Target run and picked up few little items that I was pretty sure Ava's friends would dig, and the day before the party I set up a little treat-bag assembly line on the dining room table.  Now, I'm no fool; I'm fully aware that my child is 4 and has the corresponding attention span.  So when she said she wanted to help, I expected her to put together 4 or 5, then move on to the next thing that caught her eye.  Instead, she carefully assembled all 23 bags herself, only allowing me to write her name on them.  She inspected each one to make sure no item was missed, remarking how one of her friends would be sad if they didn't get their bubbles. 

When we were done, we celebrated with a few bubbles of our own.

Turns out the spirit of giving is alive and well in the Lundstrom house.