Guilt goes postal

Help! Stop! No more! Please!

I know it’s the holiday season and that’s the reason I keep getting all these “gifts” in the mail. But I don’t want them. Not only don’t I want them, but they make me feel bad.

I got a dime from the March of Dimes, a stamp from Wounded Warriors, and  personalized return address labels from a wide variety of charitable organizations.

The letters — and the gifts — are unopened. And stacking up.

The higher the stack gets, the more guilt-ridden I get. In a perfect world, I would open these letters, enjoy the gifts, send back a donation. Not opening them means the organization wasted its money — which tacitly is my fault.

These are all worthy causes — I cry when I see their commercials on TV.  And just seeing the letter from the Wounded Warrior project got me upset all over again. But I can only afford so much a year, or a season. I donate to lots of causes, and give extra during the holidays. But I simply can’t give to every one — even if they send me a stamp, a dime, a label.

I am unable to throw these letters out, though.  That seems truly heartless.  Do I send them back — does “return to sender” work?  Maybe for the dimes and stamps, but what will they do with all those custom-printed return address labels?

Does anyone have any constructive suggestions for this problem? I can’t stand feeling like Scrooge — especially during the holidays.