There are times when the hustle and bustle of the holidays can fog our brains and make us forget what the season is really about. It's the season of giving and there are so many people that don't have what a lot of us do.

With this year about starting new traditions I am trying to find new ways to give back to others. So here is what I came up with:

1. Take food to the nearest homeless shelter. Around Thanksgiving our grocery store was having a sale where if you bought a turkey you would get a free ham. With just two of us the ham was sufficient…so now we have a huge frozen Turkey and nothing to do with it. Taking that and some other canned goods to the homeless shelter can hopefully help them in some way.

2. Find a family to help. Our church is really good about finding an organization or groups of families that need help during the holidays. They give us all the information we need so we are able to put together gifts for families that don't have the resources to do so.

3. Buy someone's coffee or lunch. This may seem like a simple task but a little goes a long way. One day a car in front of me bought my coffee…I was floored. It made my whole day. Now it's my turn to return the favor to someone else.

4. Visit the humane society. Dogs and other animals need loving this season too. Bf and I visited the humane society a week ago and walked some dogs. It was fun to watch them play and I felt sad because I know they don't get out as often as they should. Our favorite, Mya, was still so skinny from her previous home so we were grateful we were able to play with her and pet her for awhile.

5. Donate to children overseas. I love helping out locally but I was reading The Life of Bon the other day and she was talking about Wholives. Wholives is an organization that provides resources to people overseas. A donation of $4 can provide a child with clean water for ten years!

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