Under the Tree 2012

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I will never for Christmas 2008 as long as I can remember. My husband was laid off and so was I around the beginning of the holiday season. With money already tight, I knew that there was going to be no way to provide gifts for my children.

I will not lie and tell you that I was not sad. I cried a lot those first few weeks when we both lost our jobs. Times were hard and I really wanted to get something for my kids so that they could at least feel like it was Christmas.

One day, a van showed up at my house, and out jumped these teenagers with a garbage sack. They knocked on our door and said, “We were told to bring this to you. I’m not sure if you need it or not, but we saw your home and felt God leading us here.” She gave me the bag and left.

I opened it and inside were tons of little gifts for my kids — a doll, a basketball, little race cars, coloring books and crayons, new pajamas in their size. I am not sure who provided these gift for my kids, but I fell on my knees thanking God for His provisions that Christmas.

Under the Tree 2012

For some, this upcoming season might paint a different picture. There are many struggling this year. That is why we plan on sprinkling some Christmas hope and joy out into the community, helping families in need, with our fifth annual Under The Tree program here at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Under the Tree is about getting some of that Christmas magic (bloggy style!) right to some families who need it!

And here is how we do it — with your help of course.

How to Participate

We will choose several families to sponsor this Christmas.

The wonderful companies who are taking part in our Christmas Giveaway 2012 are donating items for our sponsored families.

So, in addition to providing prizes for our readers to win by commenting on the individual reviews, the companies participating in the Christmas Giveaway 2012 are providing presents to these selected families who are in need this Christmas.

We are so blessed to partner with such generous companies.

We know there is so much need out there, especially in these difficult economic times, but through Under the Tree, we hope we can share the spirit of Christmas and ease the burden from some families who just don’t know how they will be able to provide presents for their children this Christmas.

How you can help?

If you know a family who will not be able to provide presents for their children this Christmas, please nominate them using the form located at the bottom of the post, or you can go HERE.

Please leave personal information, such as last names, out of your nomination, but do include the number and ages of the children.

It’s going to be very tough narrowing the nominees down to just a few families. But due to the fact that we only have a limited number of gifts, we will have to make those hard decisions.

Since we do not want to disappoint anyone, please do not let the families know that you are nominating them. If we choose them, we will contact you to verify the details and then determine if the families want to accept the gifts.

Please note that we will also not post personal information about the families that we select. We’d like to keep it as private as possible.

We will do our best to match presents to children according to their age and gender, therefore the families we choose may be determined by the suitability of the gifts we have.

We will keep the nominations open until November 12th, 2012.

Please feel free to also post one of our Under The Tree buttons on your blog or site. Click here to get the button codes. We greatly appreciate you spreading the word and commenting here to show your support.

Your enthusiasm for Under the Tree and for the participating companies generosity helps pave the way for future projects!

THANK YOU for helping us transform these families’ holiday season into a time of blessing and excitement!