Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Time Between Giving Thanks & Giving Gifts

I've been thinking that there should be a catchy name for the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  You know, something more all encompassing than individual days such as Black Friday & Cyber Monday.  It ought to be a name that could help a person focus on the transformation from being thankful for all we currently have into the state of being generous and giving part of that away.  Instead of days devoted to shopping,  we could have big news stories about how people are giving of themselves, their talents and their time to people they love, people they tolerate and even strangers.

One way that I made my own small effort toward celebrating these four weeks was by giving a small donation to the www.GlobalGiving.org website.  I found this website through Oprah.com.  The particular charity I gave to was to develop sustainable production of locally produced eco-friendly sanitary pads, provide health education, latrines, washing facilities, and education to girls in Kabarole District, Uganda.
There are plenty of good causes that an individual can donate toward using this fairly new concept of "micro-financing".   I'm working on spreading the word about it so that in the future, more people will donate in each other's names instead of buying fruitcakes for friends or apple-shaped ornaments for teachers.

So, I'm open to suggestions:  What to call the 4 weeks between the holidays?