A Little Child Shall Lead Them

This Sunday we had the privilege to host a gathering with our nearest and dearest mommies, daddies, and kiddies at our home.  My party planning partner in crime Connie and I had set our hearts on planning a special event for the little ones complete with gingerbread house decorating, goodies and comfort food.  Despite the challenges we have been faced with this December including, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, all of us and our little ones getting very sick (forget cold’s - I’m talking pneumonia, sinus infection, bronchitis, and the flu) and me having surgery just days before we pressed through and together planned the cutest gingerbread house decorating party that you ever did see!  We also ate the yummiest food ever (lucky for us some of my mommy friends have mad culinary skills) and had a chance to hone in our on cupcake decorating skills.  I am hoping to post pictures soon but for now I wanted to share what was the highlight of our night.  For as long as I can remember one of our most beloved Christmas traditions has been giving – not just to our family and friends but to those who we don’t know.  You would be surprised by how many people depend on the kindness of complete strangers.  This year marked the 18^th annual Spark of Love Toy Drive.

The ABC7 website reads –“For 18 years, ABC7 and firefighters from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, along with the Los Angeles City Fire Department, have joined forces to run the 'Spark of Love Toy Drive'. This campaign collects new, unwrapped toys and sports equipment for the under served children in our communities. Toys collected in the respective counties are distributed locally. Last year alone, 'Spark of Love' collected over 500,000 toys within all five counties and we want to top that total this year, so please help the firefighter's ignite a spark of love in a child's heart.”

And (yep, started a sentence with and) while we don’t necessarily get to have the satisfaction of seeing their faces when they open their gifts Christmas morning  just knowing in our hearts that we helped spread some holiday cheer is by far means no less satisfying.

To end our festivities for the night we all made a trip to the local fire station.  Although there was a ginormous list of reasons why we should have stayed inside that rainy night our desire to allow our children to experience an act of giving for themselves was enough to motivate us to bundle up, gather some goodies for the firemen, and caravan down to the fire station.  With their toys in hand our anxious 1^st graders made their way under the rising garage door and were greeted by two firemen who happily accepted the good tidings they brought.  The firemen explained to them where their gifts were going and that night us parents left will our hearts full and our children left knowing what it felt like to make  a difference. Below is a picture of the little ones at the fire station.  To learn more about the Spark of Love Toy Campaign visit them here.  I asked Jalayla what she learned by going to the fire station and her words “I learned that giving is nice”.  She told me that “Christmas is all about being nice” and that giving made her "feel good".  Out of the mouths of babes... 

“...and a little child shall lead them.”  ~ Isaiah 11:6