Day 27: All Creatures of Our God and King (Charitable gifts, part II)

I've been getting countless holiday gift catalogs in the mail. Just last week I got five catalogs in one day. One was for a department store. Another for makeup.

And then there was the Victoria's Secret holiday catalog, because just what I need for Christmas is another bra. Especially a diamond-and-gemstone-encrusted bra that costs $4.5 million. That's just a tad superfluous, don't you think? Has anyone ever actually ordered one of those? Even if you had $4.5 million dollars to spare, in what public place would you wear that, anyway, without looking all flashy-meets-trashy? And wouldn't the price go up with a larger cup size? That could take a lot of extra diamonds. Talk about having some bling...

My blinged-out bra tirade aside, there was another catalog addressed to me that caught my attention, for less obnoxious reasons. It was a gift catalog for Heifer International. On the back, instead of showing an airbrushed, scantily-clad (and unrealistically thin-yet-curvy) model with a glossy-lipped pout on her face, this catalog showed a photograph of two smiling African children holding a baby goat. The copy next to the photo said: "Give a life-changing gift to Heifer International in honor of a friend or loved one. It's a gift that brings promise to hungry families and the opportunity for a better life to the less fortunate. Giving a Heifer gift takes the stress out of shopping while putting the meaning back into giving." (If you aren't familiar with the organization, you can read more about Heifer's solutions for ending world hunger and poverty here).

They also have an online version of their gift catalog, where you can "choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant." It's fun to look at the different gift animals available, even honeybees. Personally, I wouldn't consider it a gift to receive bees, but that's because I'm a wee bit afraid of those little creatures. Despite my completely rational fear of them, I can appreciate how even bees can be a blessing.

Other gift animals to choose from include cows, sheep, llamas (I heart llamas), chicks, and rabbits, just to name a few. It's really interesting to read about each animal and how they help provide for the families to which they're donated. What a beautiful gift!

Photo from Heifer International.