25 Days of Christmas Kindness

Today as I was reading through my facebook newsfeed, I saw a friend of mine post that she was beginning her "25 Days of Random Acts of Christmas Kindness." To kick things off, she and her family went to go to a restaurant where they offered to (anonymously) pay for a family's meal.  She had so many comments on her status that she ended up posting a link to the blog where she got the whole "acts of kindness" idea. I was already trying to come up with ways to make this holiday season more meaningful to our kids, leaning less toward the hectic, busy, commercial Christmas to the more thoughtful and giving side of the season. Focusing less on "me" and more on others is where I wanted to start. So the girls and I sat down and made a big list of random acts of kindness we could show others from now until Christmas Day. And hopefully they will experience the overflowing joy that comes from giving instead of receiving. I plan on posting here what we do each day and maybe some of you will be inspired to do the same!

Our first Christmas Act of Kindness was to simply bake cookies and deliver them to some of our neighbors.  The girls and Lucas and I whipped up our very favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and divided the cookies into three bags. We printed out a card with a simple Christmas wish and soon after the sun went down, we headed out. First we went to our neighbors immediately south of us. They are good friends of ours-- a young thirty-something couple with a beautiful two year old little girl. The week of Thanksgiving, my sweet friend lost the baby boy she was carrying. She was 20 weeks along. It was a devastating event for my friend and her husband, and tonight as my kids and I gave them a simple bag of cookies, we hugged her and talked with her and hopefully made her family feel loved. Next we headed to my neighbor directly across the street.  She and I were also neighbors in our old neighborhood, but built and moved into our current homes at the same time. She has known my girls since they were born and has watched them grow up. She was home alone for the weekend as her husband was on a trip to visit his father in another part of the state, and she seemed truly grateful for a little company. Finally we headed to the house across and one south from us. We are just getting to know the newlywed couple who recently moved into that home. They were very sweet and let my kids pet their two very cute dogs.

When we came home, Hannah and Leah were literally jumping around the house saying, "That was fun! I want to do that again!" Leah even asked if we could do more than one act of kindness a day. It was evident that they really enjoyed it and it was already impacting them in a positive way!

Here's a link to the blog which has a bunch of resources for doing your own "25 Days of Random Acts of Christmas Kindness!" If you join in (and it doesn't have to be daily), feel free to let me know and leave a link to your own blog in the comments!

Let the giving begin!