Random Acts of Christmas Kindness... 2013

it's that time again!!!  time for the gonsers to be extra nice to everyone we encounter!!  i feel bad using the word "random" because clearly, some of the activities we'll be doing were PLANNED!  i guess it could be PACK! 

before diving into our projects, i want to share a GREAT and Truly RANDOM Act of Kindness!  a couple of weeks ago, Julie, a girl i went to high school with, came out to the bazaar mike and i were at, and bought 2 dozen cookies.  i say "girl" because i'm in COMPLETE DENIAL of the fact we are in our "late 30's". :(   it was nice to chat and catch up!   i always considered Julie a mentor and have really good memories!! 

a few days after Julie and i chatted, i saw her in the drive-thru next to me at mcdonalds.  i thought "this is a great opportunity!!" so i paid for her order!  that's not the cool part!!  later that night i got an email from Julie.  she was not only appreciative of my random gesture, but she PAID IT FORWARD by PAYING for the CAR BEHIND HER!!!!  i almost cried!  it's so awesome to think how being KIND can be a domino effect!  i hope that the people we encounter over the next month have the same reaction Julie did!  if so, this is going to be a super happy/kind community!!!

DAY 1-  clearly strategized!  we took treats to our Pastors.  i confess, being out of town the night before, i had to .... buy cookies :(  but, we put them in these disguised baggies!!

its SO ANNOYING when my pics are sideways!!!  and i don't know how to fix it!!!!  ugh, tilt your head :(

 

DAY 2-  tonight we will all write Christmas cards to soldiers!!  and tomorrow they will all go out in the big envelope!!

some things we learned from last year:
last year was our first year, and we learned a few things...

1.  after we made a list of activities, i made a shopping list.  my daughter and i bought all the stuff we would need waaay back in November!  i printed the little RACK slips, made stickers, got everything ready!  december is a BUSY month!!  i needed to make the day to day activity as easy as possible!  it also helped financially!  instead of having all the expense in december, it spread it out!

2.  we are re-doing some of the RACKs from last year because we enjoyed them so much.  and... we thought of new ones too!  this year, i'm trying to demonstrate that being KIND doesn't have to cost money.  we looked for ways to give our TIME!  and trust me, in our family TIME is a huge commodity! 

3.  watch for truly RANDOM opportunities!!  we have our assignment in an envelope for each day, but tonight, we will also be volunteering at our Church to prepare for the Pay-It-Forward event coming up on saturday! 

okay.... that's it for now!  be KIND!!! planned AND random!!!