There's been a lot of chit-chat lately about giving unique Christmas gifts to friends and family this year - gifts like goats and pigs. Stephen Court gives a Salvation Army resource web site (click on Sponsorship Opportunities) in his blog on December 12th, and another friend previously blogged recommending the Harvest of Hope Christmas 2005 Catalogue. Both are good resources.

Until you meet my family.

I love my family, don't get me wrong, and they are likely to comment back on this blog (it would be about time!), but I think that through them I have found a snag in the idea of a goat for Christmas.

You see, the idea of the goat is to say, "We bought a goat for Christmas, but it lives with a family in the third world, since we live in the city." This goat, by the way, provides milk and income for families in need.

Here's the catch (wait for it, it's good). My mom loves the idea of getting a goat for Christmas. Cool. She wants it to come and live in her house. Not so cool. Definitely not as practical a gift as it was probably designed to be. I'm not sure she really has a shot at it, though, because Dad hasn't even wanted a dog for many years, so the goat isn't likely to pass the test. Besides, a goat tried to eat me when I was about six. I'd never be able to visit again, as I'm still severely scarred from that fieldtrip to Maplewood Farm.

So, Stephen, any further ideas? Maybe I should consider buying them a well. I'm pretty sure my mom doesn't want a well on their property in North Vancouver, but you never know. I was pretty sure she wouldn't want that goat, though if I'd thought about it a little more, I probably should have known....

I love my family. :)