by Sue Edison–Swift

Martha is really into Christmas. She began selecting and making Christmas gifts months ago. Maria is intentional about observing Advent as well as celebrating Christmas. Her Christmas tree is put up on December 24 and not before. Monica is committed to a simple lifestyle. She focuses on "the reason for the season" and manages to get through Advent and Christmas without breaking a sweat or her bank account.

The Christmas story renews Myra’s passion to help people who are hungry. She steps up her charitable giving — both donating and volunteering — during Advent and Christmas. Mavis has a both/and relationship with the Christmas season. She looks forward to Christmas with both joy and dread. She celebrates Christmas both in the culture and in the church. At Christmastime she always feels that she does both too much and not enough.

Bless their good hearts, and ours, too, for no matter what our take on the season, during Advent and Christmas we tend to find ourselves wanting. We want to respond with gratitude to the incredible gift of God made flesh…Jesus in the manger, Jesus in our lives. We want to acknowledge the love, care, and nurturing in our lives…family, friends, and a host of others. We want to make a difference in the world. We want the presents we give and receive to be good gifts.

ELCA Good Gifts
Gift donations make good gifts, and the ELCA Good Gifts catalog makes charitable giving fun. The catalog helps you feel good — and do good — with gift donations to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and other ELCA ministries. Instead of a tie or slippers for dad, for example, you could donate $50 to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and give him a card suggesting that you’ve "given" him a goat. Maybe your daughter would appreciate the thought of a child being able to attend school for a year because of your $100 gift. Here are some more ideas for making good use of the ELCA Good Gifts catalog.

• Send the ELCA Good Gifts Catalog to the people who wonder what to give you for Christmas.

• The four–page center spread of the ELCA Good Gifts Catalog (the "mini–catalog") is available separately (in packages of 50), making it ideal for distributing to circle participants, Sunday school classes, and other congregation groups.

• Nurture a little "good gifts" competition. See which church group (the choir vs. the congregation council, for example) could raise the most money for ELCA World Hunger.

• Nurture a little "good gifts" cooperation. Challenge your women’s group or congregation to get together to donate the equivalent of one life–saving well, two milking cows, three micro–loans, four scholarships, and five squealing pigs!

• Have fun announcing your gift donation. Wrap up an empty gift box and add an ELCA World Hunger gift tag to the top. Or tuck one of the gift enclosure cards found at the end of the Good Gifts catalog into a Christmas card. Or send an e–card www.elca.org/ecards —to announce your Good Gift.

LWR Fair Trade Projects
Lutheran World Relief’s Fair Trade Projects — chocolate, coffee, handcrafts — make lovely gifts and stocking stuffers. Learn more at www.lwr.org/fairtrade.

Alternative Giving Fair
Help others in the congregation give and get Good Gifts by mounting an Alternative Giving Fair. At the fair, take ELCA Good Gifts donations and sell fair trade goodies. E–mail hunger@elca.org for more information and ideas.

The Christmas Giving Tree
A Christmas Giving Tree can grace the narthex or be used for a display at an Alternative Giving Fair or other congregational event. Here are some ideas:

• For each $5 donation to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, the giver could add an ELCA World Hunger Appeal coin box, gift tag, or congregationally made ornament to decorate the tree.

• For each $5 donation to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, the giver could take a coin box, gift tag, or ornament off the tree to give to someone else.

• Use as a reminder to give throughout the year by displaying at a "Christmas in July" event.

God bless our giving, God bless our receiving, God bless and multiply our gifts for the sake of the world.

How to Give
You can donate to an ELCA Good Gifts ministry through your women’s group or congregation by noting the ministry’s name and code number on the memo line of the check.

You can donate on–line now with a credit card at www.elca.org/giving or www.elca.org/goodgifts or by calling 800–638–3522. You can mail your donation (with or without the reply form in the catalog) by sending your check to Women of the ELCA/ELCA Good Gifts, P.O. Box 71256, Chicago, IL 60694.

How to Order
ELCA Good Gifts Catalog, Mini-Catalog
www.elca.org/goodgifts
Request the ELCA Good Gifts Catalog (ISBN 6–0002–0607-0) or mini–catalog ISBN 6–0002–0608–9) by calling 800–328–4648 or visiting www.augsburgfortress.org/elcahunger. Go to www.elca.org/goodgifts to see the on–line catalog. Free. (Mini–catalogs are packed in sets of 50).

ELCA World Hunger Gift Card, Gift Tag
www.elca.org/hunger/resources
Use the Advent blue gift card (ISBN 6–0001–9705–5, one package has 10 cards and envelopes; free) or gift tag (ISBN 6–0002–1546–0, one package has 10 tags; free) to announce your gift donations to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

A Greater Gift (SERRV) Catalog
www.lwr.org/handcraft
Request a catalog by calling 888–294–9660 or by visiting www.lwr.org/handcraft/catrequest.asp. Mention the LWR Handcraft Project when you order.

Fair Trade Coffee, Tea Cocoa
www.lwr.org/coffee
Order on–line at http://equalexchange.stores.yahoo.net or call 774–776–7340.
Mention the LWR Coffee Project when you place your order.

Fair Trade Chocolate
www.lwr.org/chocolate
Order on–line at http://divine.serrv.org/divine/lwr/ or call 888–294–9660. Mention the LWR Chocolate Project when you place your order.