We made it a bit easier on ourselves this year. Instead of stuffing hundreds of individual shoeboxes of all shapes and sizes into our truck and Brenda’s van, we rented one of those small U-Haul trucks. And we got some cartons from the drop-off point to put the shoeboxes in. Twenty three cartons on a dolly were easier to deal with than all those little boxes!
Himself and I had our “packing party” last night. After some hot chocolate and a donut, we sorted the items we’d collected thru the year. For the shoebox we use a boot box size plastic container. This year, instead of lining them with wrapping paper we lined them with extra large bandanas. The bright colors are festive and there is absolutely no waste as every part of the parcel can be reused many times.
To the box we added a new T shirt, a cap, some toys (kid meal prizes, cars, ball, etc), hygiene items (toothbrushes, tooth paste, soap, tweezers, nail clippers), a pair of ‘cool’ sunglasses, music makers (a plastic recorder and a harmonica), school supplies (paper, pencils, sharpener, erasers), hard candy and a couple small stuffed toys. And it was topped off with a Christmas card and a photo of us.
