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Our no-present pact

Dunno what you guys do but we have a non-present pact for family adults at Hannukah and Xmas - yes of course we celebrate both!!  This year mine is going to our drop-in. (Done Refugees at Home, RNLI, Good Gifts etc etc over the years) NO TAT - no re-gifting - no wrapping paper. It’s a win/win…https://localgiving.org/charity/westlondonwelcome/project/HelpAsyumSeekersInActon/

Sara Nathan ● 748d1 Comments

Great idea and extremely topical at the moment.  There has been more than one court case recently but only one seems to continue to be highlighted in the press.The excess of food has in the past become a problem so we are scaling right down with that now as well.  Last year we had turkey sandwiches but it looks as though even those will be problematic this year now!  I wonder what we will find?  A tin of cream of parsnip soup with some mixed vegetable crisps on the top is now on standby.  The wasting of broccoli stalks has been a bugbear for years so it was amusing they were a hot topic on Tiktok recently and I'm thrilled to see there are so many recipes for them now on the internet.  If you don't already eat them - get experimenting!  (You may have to peel them first.)The last time I sent a present by post (a child's book) it cost much more than the book to send it in order for them to be able to retrieve it from the Post Office.  Specially chosen to tie in with a visit to London (You can't take an elephant on a bus) it was a failure as after all my effort I learnt that they already had it so it has been gifted.For other family I asked about whether they had an Elmer as I think if not it would be good and could be followed up with some Elmer books - but getting any answer out of busy people is difficult. (I've found World of Books is also good for out of stock new and old books.)We were doing experiences and going to the children's theatre instead of gifts in the past but the pandemic, travelling and a much younger child have made that more of a problem. The whole family experience was the win/win and enough for the adults! We continue to buy for the food bank when food shopping  and try to support one or two other favourite charities when we can.

Philippa Bond ● 746d