It’s December which means it’s the cheery and joyous time of the year again!

I love the holiday season because there are pretty lights, they play happy songs in the malls, I have a ton of gatherings to attend and everyone just seem happier during this period 🙂

Our renovation for the new house has completed so besides all the merry making, we are also getting ready to move in this coming weekend!! More about our renovation journey in another post next time 🙂

I’ve been (very) slowly packing to prepare for the move and while doing so, I found a ton of stuff we no longer need. Some of these are still in good/ working condition but we don’t need them any more and I wish to take this opportunity to declutter as much as I can before moving to the new place.

I figured the best way is to donate them to others who may find them useful so I went on to search for places where I can send these stuff to. During my search I came across a request on https://www.passiton.org.sg, of a single mum asking for some necessities for a baby boy due in end November. It jumped out at me and I responded to it immediately.

Laurent has been greatly blessed with beautiful gifts and hand-me-downs from our relatives and friends, But because he had quickly outgrown some of the clothes before he could wear them and his doting grandparents, aunties and uncles are always showering him with new clothes every now and then, I packed away some of the lovely hand-me-down pieces and gift sets for the mummy, together with a rocker, new bottles, pacifiers and baby toiletries.

That very evening after I responded to the request, the social worker in charge contacted me and told me that the mummy had just given birth to her beautiful baby boy! The social worker came to collect the stuff the next day and I thank God for His perfect timing!

I believe many of us will be packing and organising our homes to welcome the new year and, like me, many of you will have things that you know you will no longer use. If they are still in good and working condition, do consider donating them! Nowadays I will randomly pop by the https://www.passiton.org.sg website to read the requests and see if there are anything I can offer. Many of these requests are so basic, I am sure many of us have the ability to bless the items to those who need them.

Besides gifting items, you can also consider blessing the less fortunate with monetary donation (especially when it’s bonus month, right?). We are currently supporting a child in Laos through monthly donation via Worldvision and would like to urge you guys to consider doing so as well because a monthly donation of $45 (which you can easily spend on a single dinner) can do so much for the child’s community. But if you are not ready for the  monthly commitment yet, you can check out https://myvision.worldvision.org.sg/support.php to make one-time donation for specific campaigns.

The Paperbunny is currently running a campaign termed #Preciousandpriceless to raise awareness for the issue of child slavery and trafficking as well as to raise funds for this cause. You can read about the campaign and support it at this link.

(photo from @thepaperbunny instagram account)

In this season of love and joy, as we round up the year that has passed and make new resolutions to better ourselves and our lives, let’s not forget the intangible gifts that are more precious than the physical ones. The gift of love, joy, time, presence, patience, positivity, prayers…

For me, it is as simple as writing a Christmas card to the mummy whom we’ve blessed the baby items, just to send some love, joy and encouragement to her, as well as to our boy in Laos, hoping that the season’s greeting will bring him some sparkle 🙂

So while we recount the love and blessings that we have been receiving and busk in the joy that has so fortunately surrounded us, don’t forget to GIVE and bless others too!

Before I end off, what’s a post on giving without a GIVEAWAY!!

Mums (and mums-to-be) out there, if you have been looking for some sexy and beautiful (actually even just decent looking) nursing bra, you would have realise how boring the options are in our local stores 😐 Breastfeeding is tough enough, we really don’t need to miss out on the joy of buying pretty undergarments like we used to. Check out all the beautiful lingerie on HOTMILK Lingerie and you will want to lay your hands on all of them (both nursing and non-maternity variants)! Even celebrities such as Kourtney Kardashian and Jennifer Hudson loves HOTMILK Lingerie 🙂 Just look at the numerous accolades that the brand has received and I’m sure you’ll understand why!

The awesome people from HOTMILK will be giving away the gorgeous EVERMORE NURSING BRA featured below worth USD57.90 to one lucky reader of mine!

To participate in the giveaway, you simply have to:

(1) Follow me (@daprayer) on Instagam (so that you can get firsthand updates on my future posts and giveaways!); and

(2) Leave a comment on this post with your instagram name and email address

How simple is that?!

The giveaway will end on 25 Dec 14, 2359hrs and winner will be contacted on boxing day (26 Dec 14) 🙂

Merry Christmas in advance to all of you and happy giving!!