Only one more day until Christmas.

This time of year is a funny one in the PunditMom household — we celebrate Chanukah and Christmas. Plus PunditGirl’s birthday is just two days shy of Christmas, so gift-giving takes on a whole new meaning around here.

Each year I try to figure out how to best deal with the present trifecta, but I still come up short — how can I share the true spirit of giving and the holiday season while not going overboard and not creating a feeling at Chez PunditMom of the materialism that Charlie Brown agonized over?

Each year I search for an answer. I guess the good thing is that as PunditGirl gets older, she gets closer to grasping the concept of helping others — of reaching out to those who are less fortunate and learning to share what we have so others can worry less about where the holiday meal is coming from or how they are going to pay the bills this time of year or finding a home and a family who will be there no matter what.

So we talk with PunditGirl about how lucky we are, not only to be together as a family, but to be blessed with the resources to have a home in a great neighborhood, to be able to put yummy food on the table, and to be able to buy books and toys and clothes. And to remember that there are many families who are not as fortunate as ours.

And that we can’t forget that there are children all over the world we need to help.

Seven years ago this December, we were packing our suitcases for our incredible journey to China — to become a family. I didn’t know exactly where that was going to lead us or how the little girl in the tiny picture we had received from the adoption agency was going to feel about us.

Things turned out quite well for the PunditMom family — we celebrated this evening with some Chicken Lo Mein, Wonton Soup and Spicy Tomato Shrimp at our favorite Chinese restaurant — and remembered for all the December occasions we celebrate, how lucky we are to be a family.

On the eve of a special time of year — PunditGirl’s almost-Christmas birthday — I hope and pray that there are other children who will be finding their forever families soon, just as we found ours on that cloudy, misty day in Hunan Province seven years ago. And that it will be a special December for those families to celebrate for the rest of their lives, just as it is for us.