Five things I want for Christmas and what I plan to do about it

I often dream but sometimes I forget to ask. So I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and sharing five things that I secretly want for Christmas.

1. A trip to Sydney to see a movie

A night in Sydney to see Megan Morton present Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” at the Golden Age Cinema in January.

2. Running Gear

Recently an anonymous person gave me a #randomactofkindness gift – a subscription to the Learn to Run program by Operation Move. Now while I’m not a runner by any stretch of the imagination I have oddly enjoyed my first week. So now I need to think about getting some running gear – shorts and tops and caps,  new runners and ideally a fabulous GPS watch :)

Image by Frank Tea, on Flickr

3 . Paints

I haven’t painted in a long time but I’d love to get back into some abstracts using acrylic paints and primed paper. My acrylics in the cupboard were so old I had to throw them out. I keep driving by that craft shop but then put off spending money on something that can wait. But soul nurturing shouldn’t wait, should it?  So one of these days I might just follow my bliss!

Image by THOR, on Flickr

4. A camera

I miss having a proper camera. I’d like to take carefully considered image of my kids, the world and the way I see things.
I’m looking at the mirrorless cameras like the Olympus, Sony and Fuji models.

Image by Zhao!, on Flickr

5. A fundraising trip to Ethiopia

In my dreams I would have a spare cool $6000 so I can go to Ethiopia in March 2015 on an eleven day trip with the Hamlin Fistula Foundation to see the work they are doing, share it on social media, raise $10,000 and participate in a 5km run (or in my case, shuffle) on International Womens Day.  Next year the tour will be led by their CEO Lucy Perry, one of the top 30 Social Media Charity CEOs . Amazing.

Image courtesy of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia

In reality I’m not sure if any of that is going to happen, so this is what I plan to do about it.

• Sydney – well who knows, anything is possible right? But if I spend my January by the beach with my family, that’s just fine by me!
• Running Gear – I hear Kmart is pretty good for basics so I’m going to pop in (if I can brave the Christmas shopping craziness!) and use RunKeeper on my iPhone for GPS and time tracking.
• Paints – for now I might just let my creativity loose on some pastels and cartridge paper I have in storage :)
• I’ll keep dreaming of cameras but make some time to take more considered images on my iphone for now
• The Hamlin trip is a nice wish but there are so many unknowns (how could I raise that much money, how could I take so much time away from my family) and hey, there are plenty of other things I can do in the meantime.
  

  Photo: Suzy Sainovski/World Vision

  I can help little old ladies out at the supermarket
  I can teach my kids about compassion.
  I can buy my Christmas Gifts from Hamlin Fistula and World Vision gift shops.
  I can share the posts of  these wonderful World Vision Australia Blog Ambassadors (please read their posts!)

  Eden Riley http://www.edenriley.com/2014/12/the-day-i-took-all-of-my-dead-brothers.html
  Emma Lovell  http://travellerem.com/2014/12/02/top-10-moments-from-my-wvabloggers-trip-in-uganda/
  and Lou Acheson http://onebluebean.com/2014/12/01/its-a-tough-place-in-the-slums-of-kampala/

(Just last week I received a letter from World Vision Australia that our second sponsor child no longer required sponsorship and we had automaticaly been allocated sponsorship for another child, a boy. I rang and asked if it was possible to sponsor a girl’s education and community as I was moved after watching Girl Rising . Also as a mum to three boys I think it’s important they see the small but significant impact we can make to boys AND girls around the world. The fabulously helpful World Vision staff member updated my preferences to make sure we are automatically allocated a girl for sponsorship if any changes ever happen again -this is only the second time in several years -and now we are sponsoring an eleven year old girl in Indonesia.)

So there you have it, five things I really want for Christmas. The secret’s out!

PS You know what I haven’t put on this wish list? A family trip to Greece, taking my 12 year old to the World Domination Summit, creating a Vegetable Garden, learning to sew,  and painting our house. But for now, its time for a cup of tea, Saturday morning housework, my son’s basketball game and then organising any final Christmas presents for family and friends.

What about you? What do you secretly want for Christmas? And how can you make it happen?