This particular one stuck out in my head and I'm loving it!
It is a countdown of the 25 days till Christmas......... by doing a RAK!
If you don't know what RAK is..... it's Random Act of Kindness! And I love doing things like this...
It started on December first when my husband was off to Starbucks, and I told him to pay for the car behind him...... I've racked 2 neighbors leaves for them, I wrote a note to an old friend who is battling a battle of her own, just to let her know I was thinking of her, and don't get me wrong- kids are involved too!
Megan is bringing her friend a favorite drink to school today, just because..... Sarah drew a picture for a friend, Ty made GF rice crispies treats yesterday and he ultimately did share them with his sisters.
I say ultimately because it wasn't so easy .... but he took time, thought about it on his own terms, like most things, and decided to share. I was proud of him!
I also love to bake things for friends and neighbors throughout this month.... and rather then feeling overwhelmed by doing a huge baking marathon, I thought I will bake a little bit every day- Ty and I enjoy it anyways.... and it spreads it out... so today, someone is going to be getting Pumpkin Spice Cookies!
I guess throughout our crazy world we live in, and by that I mean our particular crazy family situation, the challenges, struggles, the good times and bad..... I have always loved doing things for others.
And I feel dedicated to sharing this with my kids..... the one big thing we have done now for 3 years... is a Children's Hospital Toy drive... we collect new unwrapped gifts for kids of all ages from our community- family, friends and on Christmas Eve we take the toys to the hospital to be delivered to all the kids that can't be home for the Holidays!
My joy is seeing my kids get excited when someone drops off a gift at our house, and they know it's for the toy drive, and they are excited that some boy, or girl, will be receiving it. They say things like "oh my gosh this is so cool, a little girl will love this!"
Statements like that just melt my heart... and when it comes down to it..... I know we are raising good, kind, and generous kids.... some days it maybe be harder, but this type of giving always makes our family smile!
And last year, we collected over 100 new gifts that we delivered to the hospital. It was incredible.... there was so much and my kids loved how many kids we were going to help smile!
We are a family who is touched and affected by medical issues, know what it's like to be in the hospital for an extended time with a child, who regularly need to visit 2-3 x a year..... the peds surgery staff know us by name we are that regular..... so we know what it's like to be there on the other side of our child receiving something special to help take his mind off of where he is at that moment....... and this is our way of giving back to all the other children.... especially during the holidays! We've been there before during the holiday season and were lucky to be home for Christmas.... but there are so many children who have to spend the holidays at the hospital.... so many... and there families by there side.... the gifts we collect are simply to help bring a smile to their faces when they open it and for them even just for a moment to forget that they are in the hospital, maybe have IV's hooked up, maybe experiencing pain... whatever they are there for, maybe for a minute they forgot about it when they received a new gift. That's our wish for all those children!
And my kids get to experience the wonderful feeling of helping others.
That makes us smile!
So, my 25 days of Christmas countdown of Random Acts of Kindness continues.... and if you are reading this, maybe you too want to do a RAK for someone else! It's not hard, in fact, it's quite easy - help someone load their groceries into their car, take the cart away when you see someone done loading their groceries, buy a coffee for the person behind you, send a note to an old friend, help a neighbor with a chore, better yet, have your kids help a neighbor.
There is no one thing to do, there is nothing too big or too little.... when it comes from the heart...... well, that's just amazing!
And don't forget to pass it on.... doing nice things is contagious!!!!!!
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