Report on Our Family’s Secret Santa Challenge/Weekly Roundup

photo credit: Keith Bacongco

Some of you may remember reading about the “Secret Santa” challenge my niece Beth gave our family on Thanksgiving.   Here is a reminder from that post:

Following in the tradition of Secret Santa, she handed out $10 bills to every niece, nephew, uncle, aunt, cousin and grandparent with these instructions, “You have to give it away.  That is rule one.  You can add money to it if you want;  you can choose to be anonymous; you can give it to someone you know or a total stanger.   You simply have to give it away.  Rule two is this: when we gather together on Christmas Day you have to tell what you did with the ten dollars.”

So how did it go?  After our gift exchange on Christmas Day, we were each challenged to share what happened to the $10.  I admit feeling a little anxiety, thinking, “What if someone simply forgot?”  My anxieties were for naught as each of us had a story to tell.  And what stories they were!  Some gave to total strangers.  Some to charities.  Some to needy people they knew and others to needy people they knew about.  The excitement in the room grew as we heard story after story.  Even my 9 year old grandson Simon shared how, when his Sunday School teacher challenged the class to give special offerings for “Boystown”, he proudly gave his $10 and voluntarily added another $5 of his own.  Simon gets it!

I began doing some mental math as I heard time after time how the giver added more to the original $10.  My guess is that Beth’s original $150 grew to about $500 by the time it was given.   This, I think, is a great example of sowing seeds and seeing increase.  Thank you Beth!  You challenged and blessed us all.

I think I speak for the entire family in saying that this simple exercise in giving made our Christmas 2009 one of the best ever.  Will we do it again next year?  We can’t wait!

Some posts from fellow bloggers:

• It is always fun to see what others are reading (especially when Personal Finance By the Book is included ), so make sure to check out Top Ten Personal Finance Blogs to Read in 2010 at Money Help For Christians.

• As long as I am tooting my own horn, you might want to check out Attention Car Owners – Do You Need a Reality Check? This is a guest post I wrote for Frugal Dad.  While there, check out other posts. Frugal Dad always has lots of good, relevant reading.

• Have you ever inherited retirement assets?   Could you some day? Inheriting Retirement Assets:  What You Need to Know at Good Financial Cents will walk you through the nuances of what it means for you.

• Hey.  It’s a New Year and a great time to set some goals.  Don’t know where to get started?  Check out The Most Important Financial Goals for 2010 at Cash Money Life.  Patrick does a great job of keeping things simple so you won’t get mired down in details.

How about some carnivals I participated in this week?  Check these out:

• Festival of Frugality carnival hosted by Foreigner’s Finances
• Carnival of Money Stories hosted by Canadian Personal Finance Blog.
• Baby Bo0mers US
• Carnival of Financial Planning hosted by The Skilled Investor

As always, THANKS to the Carnival hosts for their hospitality.