<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228613739/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4228613739_685d1d00cd.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />'Tis the season for long waits at return counters, cringe-worthy weigh-ins and the crafting of resolutions.<br /><br />It's also that time of year when we look to support our most beloved organizations while also reducing our taxable income by making our last charitable donations for the year.<br /><br />At the Ball house, this means a few frigid hours of me bending over boxes in the garage in attempts to figure out which of our belongings can go and which can stay.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>Most of what we give each year is clothing. Somehow, though I don't remember having clothes in quantity during high school and college, each year I discover yet another cardboard box full of size-six short shorts and size-medium shirts from American Eagle and Abercrombie &amp; Fitch and Lord knows where else.<br /><br />Regrettably, Momma ain't a size six anymore. Since I feel I have a better chance of finding a size-six person shoved and gasping for air between the cushions of my couch than ever being one again, I figure it's time to get these clothes to folks who can use them.<br /><br />On my way back to said couch after last night's rummaging session, I found this box:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228613739/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4228613739_685d1d00cd.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />And two others just like it, all full of the books of my youth. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228611679/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2798/4228611679_d8b6e248bf.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />See? Full House: Indisputably my favorite show when I was in elementary school. I loved DJ. I wanted to know her. I wanted to <i>be</i> her. I strived to be like her in any way possible.<br /><br />Maybe I still do. But you won't hear me say it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228611841/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2690/4228611841_a27e499957.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228611555/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2656/4228611555_64e50cd935.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Ah, Little Golden Books, how I loved thee. <br /><br />Ah, pre-Elmo Sesame Street, how I really, really loved thee.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4229379162/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2636/4229379162_049ac9a5f9.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />It's She-Ra!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228612497/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4228612497_827f26027f.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />Castaspella - what a name for a heroine. By the way, I didn't color this page. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4229379322/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4229379322_bc04932023.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />I did, however, color this page. I was always a color-inside-the-lines kind of girl - at least, when it came to coloring books, that was true. <br /><br />Speaking of coloring inside the lines...BSC, coming through! <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228613103/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4228613103_c6e3f8351b.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />That Claudia - always the malcontent. "No one understands!" <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4229380790/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4229380790_e96d51de3b.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />My husband asked me this same question once, way back in our early days. I called the folks in Arkansas to see if they still had our marriage license on file. They did. Then it was true: I'd married a man who'd never seen Fraggle Rock.<br /><br />I forgive him - and myself - a little more each day. <br /><br />Needless to say, he had no idea what a Wuzzle was.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228613503/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4228613503_14ba769bac.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />My husband's parents wouldn't allow him to read Goosebumps. Too scary, they said.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4229379938/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4229379938_006c503e68.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />Of course, I read them as fast as my parents could drive me to Wal-Mart and hand me the $4.95 to buy the latest copy. Those Goosebumps books were must-haves, even if they did give me nightmares. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228612967/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4228612967_7c416e0c0a.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Even the title of the series had goosebumps. What person who grew up in the '90s doesn't remember standing&nbsp;in the young adult fiction isle and&nbsp;running a finger over these letters? So classic.<br /><br />And who could forget these: <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228612847/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2633/4228612847_0ca2f909aa.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />The Boxcar Children! Go ahead. Squee.<br /><br />Our son, who is in desperate need of a haircut, couldn't bear to see these books boxed up and hauled away forever.<br /><br />Yeah, that's the ticket - our <i>son</i> couldn't bear it. I could, totally. I'd be fine. My son, though - he's just too young for this kind of heartbreak. I have to protect him, you see.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4228612601/" title="Looking to Give Back by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="Looking to Give Back" height="500" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2643/4228612601_99cfb904fb.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />Now my old books are strung all over our living room, awaiting imminent destruction. I will try in vain to protect the relics of my childhood while attempting to share them with my offspring. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/4190995795/" title="DSC08812 by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img alt="DSC08812" height="500" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2587/4190995795_ba2580a6cc.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br />This is why we can't have nice things.<br /><br />If you're looking to make a donation to a worthy cause while unloading what's become superfluous in your life,&nbsp;<a href="http://ttownmoms.com/?page=blogs/view&amp;BLID=6844">Trisha Swindle over at Ttownmoms.com has a nice list of places that could use your donations</a>, and <a href="http://tulsabusiness.com/article.asp?aID=19749112.7500522.650351.1679765.871662.325&amp;aID2=50018">Holly Wall at Tulsa Business Journal put together a great story last month on local charities looking for your gifts this season</a>. <br /><br />What causes are close to your heart today, the day before the last day of 2009?