A Grateful Heart
Giving Tuesday is here, and a great day to pause and think about ways to be more generous.
If you have not read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, I want you to stop reading right now, and download it on your Kindle. (There should be a free version, but I could not find it easily on Amazon. Here is a 99 cent Kindle version, or you can read it for free on Project Gutenberg. The unabridged audiobook is less than two hours long (here is one by Patrick Stewart), so it is an easy quick read.
“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew. “Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”
–A Christmas Carol in Prose: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens
If you are still here and have not read the classic, consider a surprisingly faithful version of Dickens’ original text, The Muppet Christmas Carol. Our family owns the DVD, and we watch it every year sometime in December. Perhaps Giving Tuesday could be a great time to make that tradition happen.
As I wrote about previously, Giving Tuesday is a recent thing, but generosity during Advent and Christmas time is a timeless tradition. (see Dickens, above.)
Ideas for Giving
Why not take this Giving Tuesday to think about ways that you can be more generous and intentional about your giving all through the year. More on the way about these issues, and the importance of giving:
*Our Next Life: Free & Cheap Ways to Give In Early Retirement. Tanja and her husband are part of the FIRE community, but her advice about giving is helpful in sparking ideas.
*Physician on Fire: The Donor-Advised Fund–A Smarter Way to Give. This gives a good overview of what a donor-advised fund is, and why it is a great way to maximize your ability to give.
Here is an article about the tax benefits of giving to charity, especially in light of the recent tax changes.
Here is a great post by Laura Vanderkam about how giving makes us happier. This concept is one of my favorite parts of her book All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Wealth.
*This is annoying. I am sure I have seen in multiple places that families set out snacks and drinks for their UPS/FedEx/other delivery drivers, especially at Christmastime, to thank them for all they.
Giving is Good Even Without Benefits
It may seem like I am only advocating giving to charity or to others for self-interest– merely because it is good for you emotionally or spiritually, or you get a tax deduction. This is most certainly not the case. Giving is good, even if you got no tax break, and it had no effect on your health. But the bonus is that it does.
Do you have any advice for people to be more charitable and giving? I am especially interested in hearing about ideas to involve families in charity.
