Dec 01 2008
Mom & the $20 bills
It’s the first of December as I write this–things are gearing up for the holidays in a very strange mixture of directives. The president who tried to order America after 9/11 to “get out there and shop,” is going out of office, the economy is in a shambles, people are nervous about money on many fronts, and we know the “yes we can!” energy of the new president is not a quick fix.
Here on Whidbey Island, local merchants are pleading for loyalty with slogans of “Shop the Rock!” and at the same time the island newspaper is stuffed with bargain ads designed to get folks on the ferry and headed into the mainland malls. I do shop the Rock, and I don’t shop it much… In the over-abundance of my family’s lives, there’s not much anyone needs from Auntie Christina. And now that the “children” of my extended family are all in their 20s and early 30s, it’s understood that I’m giving my holiday money to charities and causes that I care about–for myself, and for them.
And, since the shopping season is starting in earnest I want to retell the story of my mother’s creative giving at this time of year because it is so simple and so direct. She, too, decided not to keep sending gifts to the grandchildren. (It gets harder and harder for an 85+ year old woman to imagine what the college and post-college generation might actually like to receive!) She set aside her holiday giving budget divided into $20.00 bills deposited in plain white envelopes with this message typed on the front: “This gift comes to you totally without strings, to be used however it benefits you… and if someday you find yourself with more than enough, take this idea and pass it on.”
For the month of December, my mother carries these envelopes around in her purse and looks for opportunities to give the money away. She sees a haggard looking mom and several children getting out of an old car at the grocery store and leaves an envelope on the windshield. She hugs a pensioner at church and slips the envelope in her coat pocket. She hands one to a cashier at the thrift store with instructions, “use this to pay for that person’s cart when they come up here…” By the end of December she has deposited $300 into her community in direct giving, in the truest spirit of the season.
This action is quintessential Connie: wanting to make a difference with whatever largesse she has, and wanting to keep it personal to have a bit of story to share with her grandchildren… and the confidence to know that her actions will become stories in the lives of others.
Merry Christmas, Mom, may the manger in your heart always be full. 
Copyright ©2009 Christina Baldwin. All rights reserved.
My wife is downstairs wrapping gifts and thinking about the menus during the holidays, what wardrobe is to be worn on our cruise starting in a few days to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. She has insisted that all the family, three children/spouses and 10 grandchildren along with her 90 year old step Dad accompany us on this cruise.
I am here in what is affectionately called “your room” moving the funds around in order to pay for all of this, and she randomly asks which of the tours on the Caribbean Islands do I want to go on, along with Gene, her step-father, who is 90 years old.
Wishing all a happy and safe holiday.
Everyday in the mail I get these solicitations from large charitable groups, and along with them come the guilty feelings that I cannot give to all of them, that I don’t know which one to choose, and that I may be giving to the administration of those funds rather than the to the needy that they are supposed to help. I love this idea of your Mom’s!! Such a creative way to get those dollars to the folks who really need them! Blessings to her and to you for sharing this….
This is a lovely thiing to do. The women I work with were just talking this morning about how nice it would be to have enough money to give it away freely. My daughter and I carry a pocket full of & 1.00’s so we can drop one in each Salvation Army kettle that we pass during the season. I think the idea of having $20.00’s
in envelopes to slip to people we see is even better!
Thank you for sending the email that alerted me to this story. It is a wonderful and uplifting one…I needed it today. Thanks so much for this!!! cm
we’ve tried a lot of different methods of holiday sharing….I’m happy to add this to our idea bank - thanks for sharing!
What an awesome idea. I love this way of getting some aid directly into the hands that really need it without the intervention of any agency. And that she is able to do so more or less anonymously — priceless! Thank you, thank you to your mother for thinking of this, and to you for sharing.
Well, Christina - and now we know where your own unique vision of and contribution to the world originates - what a unique spiritual practice this is! A new version of “Pay It Forward.” Thanks for this inspiring story which - in its particular unique and personal application - reminds me of the largesse that your citizens are also known for. Where I grew up in Newfoundland, the easternmost province of Canada and an island that supported three U.S. bases during World War II, “American soldiers” were known as the most generous people on earth.
May your stories continue…
Beautiful story—especially nice to actually see a photo of Connie. Inspiring at a down to earth, “I can do it level.”
The more I read, the more I smiled. Way to go Connie. All of a sudden, it feels like Christmas. Thanks Christina.
Thanks, Christina,
This story will become part of our Christmas message to friends. And I’m planning a “kid size” version for our own children to carry out. Maybe they can help design it and share it with their friends as well. Hmmm… Are you starting yet another movement?