Flying for an angel

For the past few years I have taken an angel off of the Salvation Army Christmas tree. I usually get an older kid because those are the ones less likely to be chosen. They ask for bigger gifts. I heard that the kids are told not to ask for anything too extravagant. I understand the reasoning behind that, but isn't that what kids do on Christmas? Ask for really big stuff and maybe getting some of it? I know I did. Actually, I am not sure if that is what I did. I always got what I asked for so I am not sure if I asked for inexpensive things or if my parents went into major debt on Christmas. Maybe I will ask.

Back to my angel. I chose a 12 year old girl. My mother, a friend, and I divided up the list. We managed to get the girl everything she had on there. Some things were challenging like the bike. We may have gotten it too big because we do not know how tall she is. We know that size clothes she wears, but that does not tell us if she is tall or short. But the bike is pretty so that should count for something, right? Yeah, maybe not. We did our best. I will admit that I said that I was not buying an expensive bike for a child that I did not know. That is because I do know how she rides. I do not know what kind of a bike she needs/wants. I was guessing. The bike is pretty which as I mentioned before may or may not count for much. The bike is new. And I hope she loves it.

A few people said that they just got one thing on their angel's list because well, the children has nothing so one thing is better than nothing. Another person said that they were not going to spend a lot of money getting a stranger's child gifts that just might get stolen. And the list of why people were not buying or buying what they bought was astounding. Especially since I did not even ask.

I wanted to get everything on my angel's list. Why? Because it is Christmas and perhaps the family had a crappy year. Maybe something great needs to happen for this child. No strings attached. How I managed my list is in no way saying anything about what anyone else did. In fact when people marveled at what I (and my mom and friend) did and then relayed their tales of woe I simply chuckled to myself. I am not the Christmas angel police.