Monday 3 January 2011

Storyteller Sunday/Monday

Hi there again, I am now back with my special belated Sunday storytelling post and it actually happened yesterday.
So my family, mum, dad, sister, her BF and I, had all congregated for a belated New Year meal/catch up as my sister and BF had been away over Christmas. We had finished our roast dinner, very nice too, and were chatting about life, the universe, etcetera when my sister began a conversation whcih went along the lines of..................

''Children have so much these days, I cant believe they have that much technology by the age of 10years old!''

A short hush descended on the table as we thought about what she had said. My parents then said ''But your grandparents said exactly the same thing about you receiving gifts as children at Xmas and birthdays''. And I have to admit I remember what they said was true more than my sister did.
Admittedly we didn't have gadgets as such but we had games, puzzles, books, teddies and dolls, admittedly many were handmade by our mother but never the less we did have a lot.
Then my parents, well actually it was my mum said
''Maybe we should do what we did when we little and have the toy service back in church''.

We asked her what she meant and she said that when she was a little girl, there was an annual toy service before Christmas and every child chose a toy they no longer played with or loved and brought it wrapped up and put it under the Christmas tree in church and these gifts were given to the poor children in the parish before Christmas. She thinks she is going to ask the Rector at their church to begin this again at their church.

My dad also told us a story from his childhood. His father came to him one day when he was 8 and said...
 
''Son, your cousins up North are having a really tough time and we must help them. I want you to give them your toy trains''.

My dad said he did as he was asked but that he had never felt so sad to give up something he loved so much.
This story reminds me so much of the families who I visit as my job who are less fortunate and receive special  vouchers to buy toys or who are a part of the local toy scheme where charities give toys out to the least fortunate children. At our church we send children's toy parcels to poor children across the world but I am unsure what happens for local children and  their families. It is such an important time of the year for all children, I wonder what happens in your community and if your parents and grandparents remember the toy service?

11 comments:

  1. Great story! I love a story that gets me thinking - my FIL used to run a toy service in church every year. My Dad always had his eye on our stuff because he taught so many kids who had a lot less than us and he liked to help out whenever he could.

    We got your message, loved hearing your voice and you know who has played it several times - she thinks we should try you tomorrow when the boys are out!

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  2. What a beautiful story Jo. We usually help out with the local "adopt a family" program at the holidays. The need has been really great this year because our economy is so bad.
    Rinda

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  3. Lovely post Jo, I agree that there should be more that we can do at this time of year. One of the big towns near me had a big tree in the shopping precinct with A big box that you could put a wrapped up present in for poor children. I think there should be more things like that about :)

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  4. Good story. I am sometimes amazed by the things my 11 year old niece has... she has a cell phone! But as I kid I had a CD player and other things... it's all relative!

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  5. I remember Toy Services when my own children were small, Jo - and yes, it would be a great idea to encourage them again ... Love your post.

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  6. Our school does the 'Christmas in a Box' scheme every year but I'm not sure that there is anything that does the same for local children. It's certainly a thought provoking post.

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  7. Lovely story :-) As you know, we do have a Toy Service, but the toys have to be new now - health and safety.... It's a great service though, lovely to feel that we're helping local families who aren't as lucky as we are. There are a couple of supermarkets that have boxes for donations, too. We take part in the Shoebox Appeal and a few other things for children in other countries, so it's good to remember those closer to home!

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  8. Sorry I'm so late. I tried to comment the other day but my router didn't like typepad that day. :) Your story brought back such memories. When I was a teenager (many, many moons ago) our church young peoples group used to go into one of the inner city churches one Saturday in November or early December and help fix toys that had been donated to give to the children who wouldn't be getting anything. They don't do that anymore but the Salvation Army and one of the TV stations get together every year and put on a new toy drive - Toy Mountain. It seems like every year they surpass what they are asking for so that's really great.

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  9. I have an award for you in my blog:

    http://melissasboonieslife.blogspot.com

    ~Melissa~

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  10. hey Jo , hope you are OK, missed your posts xxx

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  11. Hi Jo! Lovely story. hope you are ok, haven't heard from you in a while? Missed you xxxx

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Hello and thank you so much for stopping by. It is always a pleasure to read the comments I receive and to meet new friends. I try and reply to comments on friend's blogs as much as possible. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog and look forward to seeing you here again soon. Love Jo xxx