It's time, again, for moms and dads everywhere to gear themselves up, financially and emotionally, for the annual guilt-assault by retailers. Christmastime means that parents have to learn about the most up-to-date toys and plan on how to buy them, in order to make their childrens' Christmas special.

That list of toys and goodies your child wants changes every year, a change that is spurred on by the army of retailers who advertise just to your daughter, convincing her that whatever she got last year isn't nearly as wonderful as this year's model. So Santa has a whole new intricate and precise list of things to bring.

And as much as you want to help Santa make your child's Christmas the most special holiday ever, you worry just a little, every year at this time, that by fulfilling all of her Christmas wishes, you will spoil her.

You might even worry about where you're going to put all of the new toys, since last year's dolls and games, and the ones from the year before, are all piled in the playroom, gathering dust. Most of them haven't been touched since last year's holiday season ended.

Realizing how much good stuff you've lavished on your child is when you acknowledge that a lot of the stuff that has sat around since last year just might make another child's Christmas incredibly happy, this year. Dozens of charitable organizations in your town would be tickled to have a small portion of your child's unused toys and dolls, to distribute to less fortunate children, this Christmas.

Your daughter's too young, perhaps to grasp the nature of charitable giving, and how it helps sustain so many people, but she will understand the idea that by donating some of her less-loved toys, she will make another child smile on Christmas morning. And she probably already realizes that Santa's generosity has at least a little to do with her own good behavior. Giving is definitely good behavior.

You can tell your child, too, that by donating, she's actually helping Santa do his Christmas Eve job. By using some of her donated toys to help the less-fortunate, and picking them up at your local charity outlet, Santa can start his journey with much less weight on that sleigh. Rudolph, especially, will be happy.

Once your child has her new toys, she'll never miss the old ones. Clearing out last year's toys will make more room in the house for this year's, and, hopefully, your child will learn, at a young age, a lifelong habit of giving.

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