Pajamas and Bicycles

And the pajamas keep rolling in..... some of them don't even make it to my door. They are collected by downtown groups (hospitals and schools and churches) and then I arrange to have them delivered to one of the downtown children's shelters. I swear, I've had more pajamas and books donated in the month of December than I've had in the last six months. Everyone seems to have the Christmas spirit, which is a very good thing.

The totals, so far....... 2577 pajamas, 2087 books, 155 slippers, and 2 toys. And all of that, except for about 60 very-summery pajamas sets, have been delivered. The summery ones are in my closet, and will be delivered in February, or even in January if I don't get any more flannel or fleece pajamas for the kids.

I hope this pajama frenzy continues when the holidays are over. Oprah will be re-broadcasting her show on The Pajama Program on Dec. 27th. I'm hoping that people who didn't see the first running of the show will see it then and decide host a Pajama Drive for the New Year.

As for the bicycles...... there was an article in the Houston Chronicle today about "Elves and More," the charity that gives bicycles to disadvantaged children. This year's total was 18,000 bikes (my husband and I, along with our neighbor B, put together 20 of those bicycles last week). The trucks are already going out into Houston, distributing the bicycles to the kids. The photo in the paper showed a couple of children standing in the middle of a sea of bikes, looking at the styles and sizes and colors, smiling from ear to ear as they chose the bicycle of their dreams.

The smiles on those kids...... that's why I don't worry about breaking a nail as I attach the pedals or the training wheels to those bikes. Pajamas, slippers, books, bicycles--- wouldn't it be a perfect world if every child could just have one of each. And much more, of course, but at least that's a start.