If you're like most parents, you view the upcoming Christmas season with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. You're excited about the joy you know the season will bring you and your family, especially your child. The trepidation comes from wondering, as you do each year, if you'll be able to find and purchase exactly the right toys and goodies that will make your daughter's Christmas perfect. Let's face it-the toys your child got last year are completely out of fashion this Christmas. There's a whole new array of games and dolls and toys that your child is convinced she can't live without, and which Santa Claus just has to bring her, this Christmas when he comes down the chimney. And as much as you want to help Santa make your child's Christmas the most special holiday ever, you worry just a little, every year at this time, that by fulfilling all of her Christmas wishes, you will spoil her.

Besides, where could you possibly put new toys in your house? Last year's Christmas haul, for the most part, has been untouched since last January, just taking up precious space. And, most of the stuff looks almost brand new. Wouldn't those toys from last year make wonderful presents for someone else, this Christmas? Charities, such as Goodwill and The Salvation Army, depend on the donations of people just like you and your child to help families in need, at this time of year. Your daughter's too young, perhaps to grasp the nature of charitable giving, and how it helps sustain so many people, but she will understand the idea that by donating some of her less-loved toys, she will make another child smile on Christmas morning.

And she probably already realizes that Santa's generosity has at least a little to do with her own good behavior. Giving is definitely good behavior. You can tell your child, too, that by donating, she's actually helping Santa do his Christmas Eve job. By using some of her donated toys to help the less-fortunate, and picking them up at your local charity outlet, Santa can start his journey with much less weight on that sleigh. Rudolph, especially, will be happy.

And, really, by the time your daughter opens her new toys on Christmas morning, the toys she chose to donate will be long forgotten. And reminding her of her charity, and the joy she helped bring to another family, may help to instill a lifelong habit of generosity in your child.

Imaginary Greetings is committed to working with you to help build the hopes, dreams, and imaginations in those who are the most important in your life. Make it happen with a Santa phone call.