Donate in memory of loved ones to a charity they would like at Christmas. Others can be done throughout the year. My biggest donations go to SrB at my Bible studies. She supports widows and orphans in Africa and Haiti. Her order is careful with their money and I trust their oversight.
We donate to the charities that we support throughout the year but never in response to solicitations and NEVER in a store where they try to extort you at checkout, I find that incredibly annoying.