philanthropy is for the birds

let me explain.

by now you know the littlest member of our household turned seven this year and when a birthday falls within a week or two of christmas, a couple of things happen:  excessive gifts and more excess.

we have been helping alex to understand her needs versus wants, especially around the holidays when every television commercial laser focuses on her demographic and fires away.  so we decided to take aim on those less fortunate and with an unexpected buy-in from the wee one, we devised a plan to do some good.

we received a holiday giving catalog from the world wildlife fund in early december and it became a huge hit in our home.  alex is an animal lover - especially animals of the stuffed variety - so when she realized there were endangered animals that she could actually help, we suggested she use her birthday party as an opportunity to do a little giving rather than receiving, and she totally went for it!

through the wwf she decided to symbolically adopt a bird.  a toco toucan to be exact.

we found out that when you "adopt" an animal through wwf, you get a stuffed replica of the friend you help save and considering stuffed animals are like gold around here, it worked out pretty well.  so rather than a house full of more toys from her 12 birthday party attendees, alex raised $103 and saved not only a bird friend, but an adorable arctic hare as well.

everybody feels right at home. i don't know how the arctic hare feels about this unseasonably warm winter we're having, but I can tell you the toco toucan has been resting quite comfortably.