How do you gift wrap a water buffalo?

Have you started your holiday gift shopping yet? If you, then you've probably considered all the usual suspects. Perhaps a new computer for Papa from Dell, jewelry for Mama, clothes for the sibs. I've actually already purchased gifts for the in-laws online, thinking we would be delivering them over Thanksgiving. 

But lately, I've been thinking a lot about how we can live our lives more simply, more authentically. And to me, that includes trying to get away from having so much "stuff." On the flipside, it also means giving less "stuff."

Making charitable donations in someone's name as a gift is nothing new. But this year, I'm pretty sure I will do it for at least some of my Christmas presents. There's one charitable institution that has really piqued my interest. 

You know that saying "Teach a man how to fish and you've fed him for a lifetime?" Well, giving through Heifer International is one way of doing that. Instead of giving money to people who need it, the charity gives things that people need to be able to provide for themselves. Their online gift catalog includes goats, bees, flocks of ducks and geese, and trees. They go to communities all over the world where they are most needed. Like the Philippines, where you can help someone buy a water buffalo. 

This man, Fred Sarilla of Bugcaon (which I think is in Bukidnon) in the Philippines, got a cow. He says, "Before we ploughed by hand and feet, and what we produced was with our hands and carried on our heads. Now we have a cart. I ride with my wife and children and are talking with joy because we are riding." Photo: Heifer International