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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (57204)	12/16/2000 2:34:27 PM
From: Constant Reader	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 71178

It has been an interesting Christmas season around here. A club I belong to had its annual Christmas Party and did something nice for others (for once) instead of exchanging white elephant gifts that were received at the last Christmas party. (Some so well-known and well-travelled that they are immediately recognizable while laying in wait under the tree.) Our party organizer found a group that arranges for gifts for the children of prisoners. In many cases, these are the only gifts the kids get - some are living with one parent while others are in foster homes, with relatives or in temporary shelters. There is a $20 limit as there may be different donors if there is more than one child in the family. It would be rather unfair if someone gave one a television and the other got a Barbie doll. Participation was voluntary, but all 50 families signed up and some took more than one gift or more than one child. The group gives the donor a paper angel with the child's first name (and an discreet ID#). A detachable portion has the child's age, the item desired, and appropriate size (if needed). Each child receives 2 gifts: a toy and an item of clothing. It was a lot harder to shop for these things than it seems -definitely not as easy as writing a check and letting someone else do the buying. I had to look for an adventure book and a junior medium top or pair of jeans for a 12-year-old girl. I immediately thought of the Potter books, but which one? The first? Had she already read it? The fourth? Would it be intelligible to her if she had not read the others? The experts at Border's recommended the newest one -she could probably borrow the others from friends or the library and the book had enough background to stand alone. (It was on sale, so I slipped a nice bookmark inside and stayed below $20.) Finding the clothing was much harder. Found a top that looked nice (and received the ok from knowledgeable sources - mothers and girls her age shopping in the store), but it looked so tiny and insignificant inside the Christmas box. I gave up and went to find some jeans at Old Navy that I am told by reliable informants are popular with her age group. I hope she likes them. Anyone need a nice junior medium top?