Annual Christmas Open House

A few years ago, about 7 to be exact.  My neighbor and I were saying how tired we were of neighbor gifts.  You have to either make or buy way to many and who do you give them to and who don't you.  You end up spending way to much time, money and effort and what do people do with these crazy Christmas trinkets?  They end up in the garbage or you save them and never display them again.  Now I know many people like to bake their favorites treats and pass them to all the neighbors too.  Again what happens to them?  If it's not some weird fruit cake then it ends up sitting on the counter until little by little I have ended up eating the entire plate of treats.   Not good!  So with all those thoughts we decided to start a neighborhood open house where we would make donations of some sort to a worthy cause and invite the whole neighborhood (yes the whole neighborhood, obviously not everyone comes) to come together and eat treats and visit with one another.  Tonight was the 6th (we skipped a year when my neighbor moved) annual open house held at our home.  Many people have commented on how glad the are that we ( I have two very good friends who have helped make this so successful) organize this every year and it is so good to do something for others.  After all it is the season to give.  This year each family was encouraged to donate to what ever specific organization they choose.  Such as Toys For Tots, Utah Food Bank, Shop With A Cop,  Salvation Army or Make a Wish.  In years past some of the things we have done are, collecting toys for Toys For Tots, Donations for Make a wish Foundation, and donations for a child who was terminally ill.   The ornaments on this tree had the names of the various organizations that families had donated to. We had many families in our neighborhood come to our home and enjoy the company of others while donating to a worthy cause. This has become a fun tradition in our neighborhood over the years and probably for many more years to come.