Things To Do For Two
Ladies and gentlemen, the moment has arrived when we announce the winner of our latest giveaway.
And the winner chosen at random is…. Twitter user @lifehealthfit!
Congratulations to you and thanks to everyone who entered the contest. We’ll be doing more giveaways in the coming months so stick around.
It’s almost time to get out the lights, decorations, and Christmas trees. That’s right, the holidays are right around the corner. What better time of year to help out someone in need? This year we took part in Operation Christmas Child, a charity that helps make Christmas a little brighter for kids in developing countries. As you can see from the pictures, even our cat Himmery got involved!
SHE SAID:
I really enjoyed taking the time with Brad to give back in some small way. Sometimes we can lose sight of how privileged we are, so it was nice to take the time to refocus. I liked the charity we chose, particularly because we got to shop for Christmas presents for a little boy, which means we had an excuse to raid the toy aisles! I think it’s the first time Brad actually volunteered to go shopping.
For our charity, Operation Christmas Child, the idea is to shop for Christmas presents for a boy or girl from one of the three age groups (2-4, 5-9, 10-14). You fill a shoebox with various items such as school supplies, hygiene items, and of course toys. You put $7 in an envelope to cover shipping costs along with a little note if you wish. Then, you take it to one of the drop off locations in your area (which can be found on their website) where it is processed and shipped to a developing nation. Countries in the past have included Bosnia, Mozambique, Armenia, and Liberia.
I had so much fun combing the toy aisles, looking for toys I thought our unknown boy might enjoy. It was funny how we both thought we knew the boy we were shopping for and would get into little arguments over what he would enjoy more. The fun for me in this was definitely in the process and not the packing of the shoebox. As I suspected while we were shopping, we bought too much. However, Brad and his packing skills managed to cram 4 t-shirts, 6 pairs of socks, a sticker book, 4 toothbrushes, a sketchpad, markers, coloured pencils, bandaids, lego, 3 hot wheels cars and a ball into a tiny shoebox.
Whether or not you support the charity we did is irrelevant. The point is to pick a charity that is near and dear to you and find a way to give back to it, either by participating in one of their events (many charities have Christmas events) or holding an event of your own to raise funds for it. Have a game night with friends and charge a seat fee or hold a silent auction. For more ideas like this visit: celebrations.com/charity-events
HE SAID:
We made a choice to change our focus for Christmas this year. Instead of getting caught up in spending too much money on people who already have too much stuff (although we still love them) and on ourselves, we are going to focus on what really matters. Don’t worry, we’re not turning into Scrooges, we’re still giving gifts to people we love, but spending time with our family and friends and giving to those in need are more important than gifts.
I had heard about Operation Christmas Child many times over the years but I had never personally participated. I was unsure of how the whole process works and what we were actually going to do. As it turns out, it’s really easy and quite fun.
I’m the kind of person who will avoid shopping in an actual store at any cost. If there is any possible way to buy a product online instead of having to deal with parking lots and lineups, I’m there. So I can’t say I was super excited to go to a store and shop. I was so wrong.
We chose to shop for a little boy in the age range of 5-9, and it was awesome. I had completely forgotten the joys of walking down the toy aisles (it was just one aisle when I was a kid!) and seeing all the fun things available. It was really hard not to grab one of everything. I just kept picturing this little guy with a smile on his face as he opened up the gifts we chose and it made me want to go a little crazy.
Once we got home we had to deal with packing the gifts in a shoebox. I know Susan gives me the credit for this, but it was more her than me. My idea of strategically packing the shoebox was to jam everything in it and then force the box shut. She packed and re-packed it until everything fit just right.
I’m so excited to wake up on Christmas morning and know that in some small way, we made a difference for a little boy in another part of the world. It’s easy to get down sometimes when we compare our lives to other people, but in reality even the average person in Canada or the U.S. is wealthy beyond imagination in comparison to some other places in the world. We have a lot to be thankful for so giving back in some way is the least any of us can do.
You obviously don’t have to choose the same charity we did, but I hope this inspires you to help someone who needs it however you see fit. We had a lot of fun taking part in Operation Christmas Child together and making a date out of it. I can safely say we’ll be doing something similar next year.
If you’re not sure what charity you’d like to support, the link below is a great resource. It is broken down into categories of giving, such as medical and human rights, and as well as by geographical location (Canada, USA, UK, Australia). We’ve also included links to some specific charities you might want to take a look at:
charity-charities.org/charities/index.html
One of our favorite fall activities is pumpkin carving. This year we thought it would be fun to both carve part of the same pumpkin. Though there were a few mishaps along the way, it was a lot of fun.
SHE SAID:
I think this was my most enjoyable pumpkin carving experience yet and I think I know why. For starters, my design (our logo) wasn’t too complicated with crazy precision cuts and detail (although Brad almost gave the boy a uni-leg). I’ve always wanted to carve one of those advanced portraits that require fancy pumpkin carving kits, but I’m not convinced I have the patience or time for that. On a side note, has anyone ever used one of those kits? Are they worth the investment?
Since I didn’t carve a very detailed design, I wasn’t sitting on our living room floor for hours on end, with my hips seizing and ready to snap. I decided to carve the girl part of the logo and Brad carved the boy, so it only took me about 15 minutes. Before we carved anything, Brad printed off a large version of the stick figures in our logo. Then I drew them onto the pumpkin with a marker as a basic guide. I had a lot of fun carving our pumpkin this year and I’m really happy to be displaying it on our front step.
If you’re new to pumpkin carving, here are a few tips to help you on your way:
HE SAID:
Pumpkin carving wasn’t really a tradition in our house growing up. I’m not sure why, but we just never really cared to do it every year. I think it’s safe to say it’s a tradition for Susan and I though, since we’ve carved a pumpkin every year since we got married.
Due to time constraints, we decided to do the initial gutting of the pumpkin and the carving on separate nights. This might not have been the best idea as our pumpkins are already beginning to go mushy on the bottom. Carving pumpkins doesn’t require much set up, just spread out some garbage bags or newspaper, grab a spoon and a few different size knives and you’re ready to go.
Those of you who have been reading Things To Do For Two for a while will remember in our post about the Cold Stone Creamery that I mentioned how I really don’t like it when my food gets mashed together. Well, I have another small “thing” (some people might call it an “issue”…) I need to confess to you. I really don’t like getting my hands dirty. I’ve been this way since I was little. I distinctly remember on the drive home from school one day as a kid, I looked over at the kid next to me who had food all over his fingers. He didn’t even care. He just sat there like it was no big deal. Even now just thinking about it gets me anxious. So you can imagine how much I love shoving my hand inside a freshly cut pumpkin and scooping out the seeds…
Moving on.
If you are looking for a design to carve into your pumpkin, try to stay away from anything with small round corners, or any other intricate details. Since we just carved our logo into one of our pumpkins, it was fairly easy. Susan carved the girl half and I carved the boy half. There was only one emergency in the process. On the very last part of the pumpkin to be carved, I was supposed to leave a thin piece to separate the legs of my half. Well, in trying to pull out a chunk of leg I almost snapped off that piece which would have resulted in a dude with an abnormally long torso. Thankfully we were able to salvage it and it actually turned out quite nice.
Other than having to shove my hand into a nasty pumpkin, the only other down side was that my wrist felt like it was going to snap by the end of the carving. I’m sure that’s not normal, so don’t worry about it when you carve yours.
I’m sure most of you have tried this before. But for anyone who hasn’t, it’s a lot of fun. Last year I carved the Batman symbol into my pumpkin, which I was quite proud of. If you have any pumpkin carving stories we would love to hear them. Also, if you want to send us pictures of your carved pumpkins we could make a gallery to share them with everyone. If you are still looking for ideas of what to carve, check out this website for lots of great ideas. By the way, we still have one pumpkin left to carve so if you have any requests please let us know.
