I dropped off her gifts today. It was bitter sweet.
My husband and I don’t need or want much for Christmas this year, so we decided to help someone else. Several weeks ago, we chose a six year-old girl from the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree and set out to find the items on her list. It seemed like a typical list for a little girl and I thought it would be easy; wrong.
- pants
- shirt
- coat
- Barbie
- books
- educational toy
Only knowing her age and size (7), left us with many unanswered questions. Knowing that these might be the only clothes she has for a while, we wanted to be sure to get her favorite color, but what was it? Most little girls love pink or purple, but which one was her favorite? Or was she not like other girls and prefered blue or green?
Encountering two asiles of Barbie and accessories made shopping for her even more confusing. There were Barbies of every hair color and skin tone, but did she want one that looked like her or did she care?
As I dropped off her gifts, I could only hope that she enjoys the pink and purple shirts and pink coat that keeps her warm.
She may never know that the Barbie she plays with everyday has brown hair like me and that my husband picked out the storybook she loves to read before bed. At the very least, we hope she’ll remember this as a great Christmas.
