This is just a quick reminder that this year’s toy drive ends this coming Tuesday, December 16th, so if you’d like to contribute please do so by Tuesday morning! Toys for Tots pickup ends a week before Christmas, but Tuesday is the last day I’ll have the opportunity to buy toys and get them to the box. I was worried that donations would be more sparse than usual this year, but all my stalwarts came through as usual, as did several others. But I always want to help Santa as much as possible, especially in a year where toy prices have been extra-high and there will undoubtedly be more families in need of the help. So if you can afford to give, please do so via Zelle (ask me for particulars) or PayPal, and I’ll buy the toys and deliver them to the donation box. Charity was never simpler!
Posts Tagged ‘Toys for Tots’
Last Call!
Posted in Diary, tagged holidays, Toys for Tots on December 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Diary #806
Posted in Diary, tagged holidays, Presents, Toys for Tots on December 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I was concerned this would be a lean year for the toy drive, but my generous gentlemen are coming through as usual! Yesterday I spent all I’ve received so far, and this is what it looked like after I got most of it into my trunk. If you’re wondering why some of them look wet, it’s because it was raining cats and dogs all day yesterday; I would’ve waited for a clear day, but the next one predicted is the 21st, which is obviously too late. Luckily, there’s now a Toys for Tots donation box at Tractor Supply, so I needn’t drive all the way to Olympia; this load was only in my trunk for long enough to drive to the other side of the strip mall to drop them off. It’s not as much as in previous years; I’ve used a $20 per toy limit for ten years now, but I had to raise it to $30 this year, and I was shocked to see how much some things have gone up. But y’all still have another week, so if you’d like to see the toys bought with your contributions next week, you know what to do!
Yuletide 2025
Posted in Holidays, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged activism, advertising, games, Grace, holidays, Presents, Toys for Tots on November 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Every year on this day, the traditional beginning of the Yuletide season in the US, I remind my readers that the real spirit of the season involves giving to others rather than literally fighting to get more for yourself. Children and whores are St. Nick’s two favorite groups of people; you can help the latter by donating to a sex worker charity such as SWOP Behind Bars, or you can help both by booking a session with a sex worker you know has kids. And if you don’t know any, you can help by participating in my annual toy drive! Regular readers know how it works: from today until Tuesday, December 16th, I’m collecting donations with which to buy toys, which I then donate to Toys for Tots. Send your donation via PayPal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net, and please put “Toys for Tots” in the subject line so I’ll know it’s not a regular blog donation; I can also accept donations via Zelle if you prefer not to use PayPal. If you’re not hurting economically yourself, please consider donating (either to my drive or to one near you). Mad Emperor Scrooge’s destructive tariffs are going to make toys much more expensive this year, and his pogroms & mass firings, plus the inflation resulting from his idiotic policies, will result in a lot of people having a lot less money for presents. Please help me provide some joy to at least a few little ones, who are even less able to understand economics than politicians. And you’ll also be helping me to enjoy some Christmas cheer in a year when my heart is likely to be heavy.
Socks for Christmas
Posted in Current Events, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged holidays, politicians, Presents, psychology, Toys for Tots on November 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I don't know what's worse, the fact that I'm surprised by this headline or the fact that I probably shouldn't be:
Don’t do this; little kids should not be responsible for feeding their families. This is like giving them socks as a Christmas present. Obviously, this tweet appeared much too late for me to feature it before Halloween, but Christmas is less than two months off and I’m sure well-meaning puritans who are wholly ignorant of child psychology will probably be back at it again in three weeks. It also gives me an opportunity to launch a sort of pre-season toy drive; regular readers know that I start my annual toy drive the day after Thanksgiving, but since I expect toys to be extra-expensive due to Ebenezer Trump’s anti-Christmas tariffs and many of my readers to have less to share this year, I think it’s a good idea to start a bit early. If you’re not hurting economically yourself, please consider donating!
Diary #754
Posted in Diary, tagged disease, Toys for Tots on December 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I delivered the first load of toys yesterday! I originally planned to get more toys before dropoff because I’ve had several more donations, but Monday is my busy day and I just couldn’t fit it in with everything else (including Grace’s radiation treatment). Today, it’s going to be even longer for her because this is a chemo day; it’s every Tuesday, and takes all damned day. But Wednesday and Thursday are just going to be radiation days, so I shouldn’t have any problem fitting shopping in on those days. Another picture next time, and if you want some of your donations to be in that picture, you know what to do! I will be collecting until a week from today, so don’t wait too long!
Diary #753
Posted in Diary, tagged holidays, Presents, Sunset, Toys for Tots on December 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Next autumn, I need to ask my neighbor to go around my property line with his bulldozer; it has become so overgrown that Chekhov and I had a devil of a time dragging this tree back to the house from where we found it. My legs are covered in scratches from thorns that went right through my jeans (even though I intentionally wore the thick ones), and I was so exhausted I just didn’t feel like decorating it until the next day. But here it is, and what you see under it are toys from the first shopping trip of this year’s toy drive! I’ve only had one new donation so far this year, plus some good stuff from one of my gentlemen who prefers to buy the toys himself, but last year I got a donation just a couple of days after the drive closed and local pickup had finished, so I simply kept a record of the money and got a good start on this year’s purchases. Some of my readers were concerned I might not be able to do the drive this year because of Grace’s illness, but fortunately the local Tractor Supply store became an official drop point last year, which means I needn’t drive all the way to Olympia to make my donation; in fact, the store is in the same shopping center as the two stores where I get most of my toys, so it’s easy-peasy! I’m not about to let needy kids suffer when I can help, just because I’m busier this year than usual, and if you’d like to help me to help them, please send your donation via PayPal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net, and please put “Toys for Tots” in the subject line so I’ll know it’s not a regular blog donation. I can also accept donations via Zelle if you prefer not to use PayPal; just contact me for the bank information. Thank you!
Yuletide 2024
Posted in Holidays, Miscellaneous, tagged activism, games, holidays, Presents, Toys for Tots on November 29, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Every year on this day, the traditional beginning of the Yuletide season in the US, I remind my readers that the real spirit of the season involves giving to others rather than literally fighting to get more for yourself. Children and whores are St. Nick’s two favorite groups of people; you can help the latter by donating to a sex worker charity such as SWOP Behind Bars, or you can help both by booking a session with a sex worker you know has kids. And if you don’t know any, you can help by participating in my annual toy drive! Regular readers know how it works: from today until Tuesday, December 17th, I’m collecting donations with which to buy toys, which I then donate to Toys for Tots. Send your donation via PayPal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net, and please put “Toys for Tots” in the subject line so I’ll know it’s not a regular blog donation; I can also accept donations via Zelle if you prefer not to use PayPal. If you’re not hurting economically yourself, please consider donating (either to my drive or to one near you); rising inflation has taken a bite out of many people’s income, so there will be less money for more-expensive toys this year. And while we adults can understand that, it can be heartbreaking for very young children to think Santa Claus has forgotten them or bypassed them because they were naughty. Please help if you can!
Diary #702
Posted in Diary, Philosophy, tagged ethics, holidays, Toys for Tots, Twitter, Washington (state) on December 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »
This is the very last day of my toy drive for this year; though I made my big dropoff on Thursday, our local Tractor Supply has a collection box, so anything I receive today I can simply drop off in that box instead of taking it all the way to Olympia. This wasn’t one of the most successful years my annual drive has had; I blame the enshittification of Twitter, where my tweets on the subject used to get a great deal of attention, and now only barely register against the background noise. But those of you who did donate were as generous as ever, and I was able to buy hundreds of dollars worth of toys for children in need. In comparison to the staggering number of people who still live close to the poverty line in the wealthiest nation which has ever existed, any effort at charity must seem pitifully meager. But we don’t work to help others because we foolishly imagine we can end poverty and want; we do so because it is the right thing to do, even if the effect is minuscule in the big picture. And who knows? One day, if enough people believe and practice that, perhaps the accumulation of individual tiny acts of kindness will add up to something very significant indeed.
Diary #701
Posted in Diary, tagged games, holidays, Toys for Tots on December 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I went toy shopping and spent everything that has been donated so far, plus a little; I had to be more careful this time because toys, like everything else these days, have gone up. That’s why I’m reminding y’all of the toy drive every day of its duration this year; I think charity is especially important at times like these, when prices keep going up (while politicians keep claiming they aren’t). On Thursday, Grace has a doctor appointment in Olympia, which happens to be where the nearest Toys for Tots collection point is; however, the local Tractor Supply also has a donation box, so please don’t hesitate to donate even if you forget until the last minute, because I can always put the last few toys there even if I don’t have the opportunity to get to Olympia again before the deadline!.
Diary #700
Posted in Diary, tagged animals, holidays, Toys for Tots on November 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Annie has always had lots of moles and the like, but recently one of them on her right side started growing and filling with fluid, so I had the vet remove it. She was such a good girl she left the sutures completely alone; we didn’t even need to put her in the Cone of Shame. She’s finished her antibiotics and the sutures came out yesterday, so that’s all done except for the healing. But I took this picture to remind everyone that there are only two weeks left in my toy drive for the year; I stop a couple of weeks before Christmas so as to have time to bring the loot to Toys for Tots by their deadline. Please send donations via Paypal, and be sure to note that it’s for Toys for Tots! I thank you, Annie thanks you, and I’m sure Santa Claus will be grateful for your help in spreading Christmas cheer as well!
Visit my bookstore
This Month
Old Posts
Call me
Become a Blog Patron
If you want to donate but don't want a recurring charge, you can send any amount you like via PayPal to my email address (see below). Be sure to include a note so I can thank you!Contact Maggie
Boring but necessary legal stuff