One of our favorite traditions at Christmas has always been to adopt a Native American family for the holidays. The tribal counsel has requests for assistance through the holidays from young and old Native Americans in our area. They don’t even have to be from the same tribe as we are and they can still be placed on our list.
This year there was a young couple that had just moved to this area. They are of the Apache tribe. They have two children ages 3 and 5 which are both boys and are only asking assistance with food. That’s typical of Native American families. We are a proud people and only ask for what is absolutely needed. It’s hard to ask at all if the truth be known.
Well food is what they will get but the children will also have one of the best Christmas’s they have ever had too. First of all, I want the family to feel welcome in our community. I don’t want them to feel like outsiders like I know they already do. We are all of one people now and must band together to help each other through these tough times.
My family went out on the 23rd and bought bicycles for the boys, clothes for them, and anything else my family wanted to buy for them. With them being younger, it was fun to buy Legos, board games and hand held electronic games for them too. We bought the family a DVD/VCR because we weren’t sure they had one and got several DVDs for the kids to watch.
As for the food, we purchased a $200 gift card at a local grocery store for them. That should feed them for a few weeks. Usually we do not get to meet the families we help but this one asked to meet us so the tribal counsel called today and wanted to know if it was okay with us to let them know who we are. They came over last night and I am so glad that we met. The kids were great and the family was so very thankful to us. We now have new family members to celebrate life with. That’s the miracle of Christmas for we are all Gods creatures.
If only more people would give to those less fortunate, it would be a better world. With the economy so hard right now, giving to others less fortunate is the one thing people cut back on when they need even more help now. It’s a shame it has to be that way. You should be proud that you haven’t let the economy make you stop your family tradition.
Joann