Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas, Mom!

Random Act of Christmas 14: We took our nanny and her son with us to see the zoo lights at the National zoo.  They had never been and likely would not have gone because of transportation limitations.  They enjoyed themselves, and it was more fun for us with friends along.

Random Act Of Christmas 15: I dropped off several research papers for friends who had already gone out of town for the holidays.  The professor wanted a hard copy from everyone well after classes had finished and I volunteered to be the drop-off person.

Random Act of Christmas 16: We have an air mattress we've been holding onto just in case...then we heard about a foster care organization that was collecting mattresses so siblings in the system could spend the holidays together.  We were more than happy to pass along our mattress as we couldn't conceive of a better use for it.

Random Act of Christmas 17: We left a present for our postmistress to thank her for being so diligent.  She comes everyday without fail and is always pleasant and friendly.  I know she gets paid to do what she does, but no one pays her to do it with a cheery disposition and she deserves to be thanked for that and her diligence.

Random Act of Christmas 18: We donated several items of clothing to a local public school.  Their kindergartners frequently don't make it through the day with dry clothes and they have struggled to provide appropriate changes of clothing.

Random Act of Christmas 19:  We sent gifts to school with Caleb for his teachers and teachers aids.  I'm new to the school scene so I don't know if this actually falls into the "random act" category of if it's more of an implied expectation.  Either way, we did it and they were grateful.

Random Act of Christmas 20:  All month we've been taking a friend with us to church.  Her car is thousands of miles away in CA and she would have had to brave the very cold temperatures on foot to and from the metro.  We really enjoy her company so this was an easy one for us, though it did force us to get up a bit earlier Sunday mornings.  She is moving next month and we are grateful we had that little bit of extra time to spend with her before she heads west for good.

Random Act of Christmas 21:  We haven't actually met any of our new neighbors, so we made Christmas goodies and delivered them to the other five apartments in our building.  Sadly, not everyone was home, but hopefully this will serve as an overture to future conversations and friendships.

Random Act of Christmas 22:  I have a couple of students in my program who are from far away (i.e. China and Korea).  They will not be going home for Christmas so we have invited them to spend tomorrow with us.  


Random Act of Christmas 23: Today we will be delivering a plate of goodies to our local fire station.


Random Act of Christmas 24: My friend is asking for donations on behalf of a very sick little boy.  Just a $1.  We put one in an envelope and sent it to him.  Click here for more details.

Random Act of Christmas 25: We gave a donation to the Salvation Army Santa standing in front of our local grocery store. 


Merry Christmas, Mom.  As usual, this was definitely more a gift to me/us than to you.  It was harder than I thought it would be to get to 25, but I suspect that probably means I need to work on being more charitable.  Everyday I thought about what I would do to provide service to someone and as a result, found opportunities to give I would have otherwise overlooked.  Thanks for making this a part of our Christmas season.  You're a great Mom, the best I know.  I/we love you.




4 comments:

Jessica said...

This has been my favorite blog of the month! Thanks so much for sharing with us. You and your mom have inspired me! :)

The Songer said...

You really have been my idol this Christmas season. I have loved reading what you and your family has been doing for others. What an awesome example. Because of it, I too have been looking for more ways to serve and it has really made all the difference.

Thanks for letting us be a part of your Christmas gifts!

Mibi and Lee said...

Love your random acts of kindness and I just think you are a beautiful and kind woman and I wish we lived closer so that I could spend more time with you...I think wed become bestest friends;) Love you and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Jana and BJ said...

I agree with all of the above comments! Favorite blog of the month - yes; inspiring - definitely; and wish we lived closer - for sure! You are a gifted writer and you have so many wonderful things to say. I've said it before and I'll say it again; you should write a book!

 

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