Even as time moves on and families move to new locations, the holidays are always a time to gather, reminisce and swap gifts.
However, instead of following the tradition of gift giving this year, this family of 13 cousins decided to all pitch in, donating more than $500 to the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund in honor of their grandparents who put the magic in Christmas Eve.
When they were kids, Jack and Jean O’Dea would always host their six children and 13 grandchildren at their house in Florence on Christmas Eve, all having lived in the Northampton area. Jean passed away in 2019 and Jack passed away decades ago, having been married for 55 years.
In an interview with the Gazette, one of their grandchildren who now lives in Connecticut, Devon Harlow, explained that as they all got older the parents, and then grandchildren, started moving away.
Starting last year, they decided to start leaving the gift giving behind, and donate to the toy fund to still feel connected to their grandparents and the Northampton area.
“We just decided last year, maybe instead of exchanging gifts we would do this instead,” Harlow said. “Because we’re all grown-ups now and we still wanted that sense of connection even though we don’t live in the area anymore.”
Named after a former business manager at the Gazette, the Toy Fund began in 1933 to help families in need during the Depression. Today, the fund distributes vouchers worth $65 to qualifying families for each child from age 1 to 14.
Reminiscing on Christmas Eve nights spent at her grandparent’s house, Harlow talked about her feelings of joy from playing on the billiards table in her grandparent’s basement with her cousins. She said the family’s donation this and last year was a collective idea from them all.
“I just remember that feeling of the joy and the fun of being together,” she said. “They (Jack and Jean) would have all the other lights soft so you could really see the (Christmas) tree lights.”
Jean was a nurse at Cooley Dickinson Hospital for many years. After she retired, she started a group with others making scarfs to sell for profit that would be donated to charity.
She said the toy fund was seemed like a great place to donate, especially since Jean had been interviewed for previous editions of the Gazette, for her work as a nurse and her scarf making.
Harlow said when she told her 7- and 10-year-old daughters that this was the O’Dea cousins new form of gift giving, the daughters asked a challenging question. “Well, Mommy, don’t you want to get presents?”
Harlow responded, saying, “Actually now that we’re grown ups, it brings us more joy to think about a kid like you being able to get a present for Christmas, that they wouldn’t have been able to get,” without the donation.
To be eligible for the Toy Fund, families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware, or in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury and Leverett, and in Holyoke in Hampden County.
The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Blue Marble/Little Blue, 150 Main St., Level 1, Northampton; High Five Books, 141 N. Main St., Florence; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Comics N More, 64 Cottage St., Easthampton; Once Upon A Child,1458 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Plato’s Closet, 1472 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St., Village Commons, South Hadley; The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 W. Bay Road, Amherst; Holyoke Sporting Goods Co., and 1584 Dwight St. No. 1, Holyoke.