Very early on Saturday, Dec. 15, my wife, Wilda, and I bundled up and went to the Gallatin, TN, Wal-Mart to take part in the Rotary Club's annual shopping with needy kids event. At 6 a.m., more than 100 sleepy-looking children, with parents and siblings in tow, began fanning out through the Super Wal-Mart. The kids each get about $125 to spend: they have to buy some clothes for themselves and cannot buy electronics, but otherwise can spend it as they see fit. The families are screened to make sure they are needy and are not being aided in a similar way by other organizations. The families also get a shopping cart overflowing with food. One year, my wife saw a little guy gaze at the cart and then say in an awed whisper to his mother, "Mom! We've got a whole gallon of milk!"

Another year, a family admitted with great embarrassment to the daughter of a Rotarian who was shopping with them that they didn't have a working fridge. The daughter informed her parents that they were buying a refrigerator, and within a few hours it was in the home, filled with food. This is a true family event - Rotarians' spouses, children, significant others and friends pitch in to help. The Interact Club, a high-school version of Rotary, also join in, bringing along their parents and friends. The Rotary Club puts on a major fund-raising dinner-auction event each year to help pay for it, and it has been enormously successful, guaranteeing Christmas for needy families. My wife and I don't have any children - after the first time we did this around 7 years ago, we agreed that this is Christmas. Everything else is literally window-dressing. (See the full set of photos.) If you've never done something like this, I recommend trying it out - it puts an incredible perspective on the meaning of the season.