Well, I can't take the credit for this idea but I thought it was a good one. I work for a very large company that makes "tons" of money as a result of the work that I and my co-workers do. We have long since learned to never expect anything in return other than our paychecks and we get aggravated every Christmas because they make us pay $10-$20 each to come to our own company Christmas party, and if we don't want to due to the charge they say we have an attitude problem. Needless to say they never give us "anything" for Christmas. So this year they shocked us all by handing out $5.00 gift certificates to McDonalds. It was chinchy but better than nothing. The next morning one of my co-workers said she had decided to donate her gift card to a needy family whom her neighbor had adopted for Christmas, and she invited anyone who would like to do the same. She collected quite a few gift cards to give. Where I live you really can't buy any adult combo with a drink at McDonalds for $5, but those cards that none of us missed one whit, put together, were worth several nice meals for this family. It was a good way to turn a negative situation into a positive one, I thought.