Welcome to Day 18 of the Virtual Advent Tour!

Today’s post comes from Tasha B (aka heidenkind) over at Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books. Tasha has some of her favorite Christmas albums to share, including a couple that are favorites of my family’s as well.

Thanks, Tasha, for taking part the Virtual Advent Tour again this year. It was great having you back!

Check back here tomorrow for the next stop on the Virtual Advent Tour. And if you’re interested in taking part in the tour, badges, details, and sign-up info can be found here. We’d love to have you participate.

Welcome to Day 17 of the Virtual Advent Tour!

Today’s post comes from Tami at Just One More Thing, who shares how her Christmas has changed the past few years and why that’s okay.

Thanks once again for taking part in the Virtual Advent Tour, Tami!

Check back here tomorrow for the next stop on the Virtual Advent Tour. And if you’re interested in taking part in the tour, badges, details, and sign-up info can be found here. We’d love to have you participate.

Welcome to Day 16 of the Virtual Advent Tour!

Today on the tour, we head back to Beyond Strange New Words and Jo Kay, who has some beloved Christmas carols for us to listen to to help get in the holiday spirit.

Thanks once again, Jo!

Check back here tomorrow for the next stop on the Virtual Advent Tour. And if you’re interested in taking part in the tour, badges, details, and sign-up info can be found here. We’d love to have you participate.

Welcome to Day 15 of the Virtual Advent Tour!

Today, we had back to raidergirl3 at an adventure in reading for a seasonal cookie recipe that sounds delicious.

Thanks, raidergirl3, for taking part in this year’s tour!

Check back here tomorrow for the next stop on the Virtual Advent Tour. And if you’re interested in taking part in the tour, badges, details, and sign-up info can be found here. We’d love to have you participate.

Welcome to Day 14 of the Virtual Advent Tour!

Charlie Brown: “My trouble is Christmas. I just don’t understand it. Instead of feeling happy, I feel sort of let down.” Lucy: “You need involvement. You need to get involved in some real Christmas project.”
~ A Charlie Brown Christmas

• If the news out of east Aleppo, Syria, has you despairing for the citizens being massacred (particularly now that yesterday’s cease fire truce has been violated), consider donating to the White Helmets, a non-governmental volunteer force who are doing rescue and recovery work in rebel-controlled areas. (The latest edits to Wikipedia claim there is some controversy surrounding whether the White Helmets are as positive a force as they claim to be; I leave it to you to decide whether this claim has merit.)
• Doctors without Borders/Medecins sans Frontieres is an international community of medical aid workers. They serve those ” affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural or man-made disasters.” (N.B. to knitters: The Yarn Harlot keeps a running tally of donations from yarnie folks.) U.S./Canada/International
• The Red Cross helps folks in the event of disaster, be it as local as an apartment fire that displaces a single family to natural disasters that wreak havoc on millions. (Yes, they have ridiculous, bigoted rules for donating blood that haven’t been updated since the worst of the AIDS epidemic, but the good they do in the other aspects of their work can’t be denied.) U.S./Canada/International

Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking. Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child’s cry. A blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven’t forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts. But especially with gifts. You give me a book; I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer. My uncle Henry could do with a new pipe. We forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled. All that is except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. A stocking for the child born in a manger. It’s his birthday we’re celebrating. Don’t let us ever forget that. Let us ask ourselves what he would wish for most. And then let each put in his share: Loving kindess, warm hearts, and the stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth.
~The Bishop’s Wife

• It seems to be too late to donate gifts to Toys for Tots in most places this year, but here’s an option for some folks: Be an Elf: If you live in one of 15 metro areas around the U.S., you can head to the post office and answer a child’s letter to Santa. Deadlines vary, but some are as late as the end of next week.
• First Book puts books and other educational resources in the hands of low-income kids who might not otherwise own any books.
• Finally, consider a donation to your local library. In addition to offering traditional materials, such as books, periodicals, and reference materials, libraries offer classes, story times, community meeting space, job resources, and digital media, as well as rudimentary services (and daytime shelter) for low-income and homeless members of your town.

Where do you send your holiday donations at this time of the year?

Check back here tomorrow for the next stop on the Virtual Advent Tour. And if you’re interested in taking part in the tour, badges, details, and sign-up info can be found here. We’d love to have you participate.

Welcome to Day 13 of the Virtual Advent Tour!

Today’s post comes from Rudi at randomduck, who shares some of his favorite alternative holiday video and tv parodies.

Thanks once again, Rudi, for taking part in this year’s tour!

Check back here tomorrow for the next stop on the Virtual Advent Tour. And if you’re interested in taking part in the tour, badges, details, and sign-up info can be found here. We’d love to have you participate.