Are you tired of stepping on stray legos? Find action figures in your tupperware drawer? Have stuffed animals that seem to multiply like rabbits? If so you must be a parent. My children are richly blessed to have a fan club which loves to shower them with trinkets and baubles for every occasion and then some. In fact, my children are often found celebrating their "un-bithdays" at least four times a month! Recently my daughter turned three....everyday for an entire week! So here's what we do several times a year, not just during the holiday season. We give back. We gather all the stray, broken toys and donate them to the art teacher at school so other students can make found/recycled art objects. We find all the much loved but aged out of stuffed animals and donate them to the Salvation Army for a school project. We collect all the random action figures and legos and matchbox or hot wheel cars and take them to the children's hospital so another child has something new to keep them busy while they recover. Then, and only then, are "new" toys allowed into our home, whether it is the holiday or not. As my sons age into computer games they are leaving behind a trail of forgotten toys (not the misfit toys that Rudolf finds on that island, but more like the Velveteen Rabbit). Sure, each toys is connected to a special moment in time, or even a special person, but more often they were the toy that was just okay to my child rather than a "wow!" It's not always perfect. There have been legal loopholes in this argument found by my ten year old son, but we try. And trying is better than not doing anything at all. In fact, this is the first year that they have enthusiastically participated in this endeavor. It could be they are growing up and realize (without my having to say it a million times) that there are families that have less, that there are children who have nothing and that if they give a little they can get a lot more than they bargain for! I call them my hero for the day for their efforts. Wouldn't you?