Giving Up "Stuff" Translates into Gifts for Others

Maureen Connors told me about a friend of hers, Barbara Rhode, who was holding a "holiday stuff swap" today at the local  YWCA, so I wandered over, with some stuff to swap.  Billed as an event that was "like shopping in your best friend's closet" and a way to "go green" by trading with other women, the swap featured snacks and cold drinks (it was 85 degrees here today!), comraderie amongst women (which Barbara explained to us is actually neurologically beneficial to us a women!) as well as a room full of shoes, purses, clothing, jewelry, books and assorted odds and end.  I learned that Barbara is semi-famous locally; the St. Petersburg Times did on article on her personal pledge to go from January through the end of December 2008, without buying herself anything new, and learning to live with the "stuff" she already had. Participants of the "holiday stuff swap" were encouraged to consider buying something not for themselves but for someone who really could use a  little something this holiday season: the women inmates of Goodwill Suncoast's Correctional Facility. Most of these women were asking for modest enough Christmas gifts, like a pair of gold loop earrings or a bottle of cologne. CD players and Bible concordances were popular requests.  I wound up leaving the swap with a brand new shirt for work and the name of another woman in need of a Christmas gift, for whom it will be a pleasure to make this coming holiday season a little bit happier...