25 Days of Giving, Days 1 - 11

Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes

Teens for Jeans, Toys for Tots, One Warm Coat donations

I said I would do weekly posts on my 25 Days of Giving project, but nearly two weeks have already flown by, so here's a  quick update:

1. Christmas cards for solidiers (through Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes) - so far this is the only project I have fully completed. The deadline was December 6th, and I managed to make four cards to mail out on the 4th. Hopefully that wasn't cutting it too close!
2. Donate change to all Salvation Army buckets (#25 on my list) - I have literally only seen one Salvation Army collection person since I vowed to give them all my change. All year round there's one outside our grocery store, and then come December he's vanished! And on my trips to the post office there have been signs where the bucket is supposed to be, but no bucket and no collector. Even at the mall the weekend after Black Friday we didn't see any Salvation Army Santas! What the heck?? The one time we did give them change was at the mall, and that was after I found three dollars on the ground, so it wasn't even my money. I'm still on the lookout though!
3. Toys for Tots - I picked up that Elmo doll/book combo, as well as a Sesame Street board book (not pictured). However, they're currently sitting on my dining table, so I can't actually consider this completed until I donate it, either tonight or tomorrow.
4. Teens for Jeans - Currently only two pairs of jeans fit me, but I'm still hopeful more will in the near future, so it was a little hard to determine which jeans to give up. However, I picked two that are really similar to other pairs that I already have, and I doubt I'll miss them and someone else could use them more. However, this drive doesn't begin until January 13th, so I'll just hold onto my jeans for another month.
5. One Warm Coat - I've picked out a coat I never wear anymore, now I just need to drop it off at the Container Store, either tonight or tomorrow.
6. Toy Donations for the Children's Hospital Los Angeles - According the website, space is limited, so I opted to pick up a Toys R Us gift card to mail to the hospital. It's sitting in a pile of Christmas Cards that is definitely getting mailed tonight.

Eleven days into December and I've only completed one and 5 halves of the things on my list. And tomorrow evening Ezzy and I are off to Modesto! So I either need to pick up the pace, or accept that it may take me 100 days to complete my 25 days of giving project. I have a few things in my mind for tomorrow though, so hopefully I can catch up!