Hey Darryl... great story. Thanks for posting.
Our family had also decided that this year we would not be doing our standard gift exchange. (You know the one where everyone shops last minute and ends up with mediocre gifts that no one really cares about receiving.)
One of my sisters and her husband recently adopted a little boy from Ethiopia. During the adoption process they had to travel to Ethiopia a couple of times. From the pictures they took and the stories they came back with it was clear that we have so much to be thankful for and often times take things for granted. So...this year we decided to donate the money we would normally spend on gifts for each other, to various charities.
We won't miss the gifts and will be helping others that could really use it. Sounds like a win win to me.
