It's been a while since I've really enjoyed Christmastime. It's become so commercial and so chaotic and so stressful that I just haven't been able to get in the mood. With annoying Christmas music starting November 1st and no measurable snowfall in quite a while, it's just not happening for me.
One thing that I'm trying this year to get a little of the Christmas Spirit back is to share more of what I have with people less fortunate. I like giving. My job situation has changed a bit recently and though I still have a long way to go to feel financially secure, I wanted to do something a little different this year.
I was inspired by Robyn Bomar's birthday outing post. As she turned 38, she decided to perform 38 Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) - one for each year of her life. With her kids along to help, she spent the day dispensing goodwill to unsuspecting, but very surprised and grateful persons. These were not the acts of handing out $100 bills to everyone they saw, but rather more meaningful, in the moment, acts... Whether it be helping shoppers load their groceries into their cars, handing bottled water out the car window to joggers, sprinkling coins around a playground for the little tikes to find, paying for the person in line behind them at a store/restaurant or handing handwritten thank you notes (and donuts :-) ) to local law enforcement.
The kids and I have made several $100+ grocery shopping trips to donate to food banks. We also spent several hours working at Gleaners Community Food Bank sorting food for donations. One day this week (while I'm off work between holidays), the kids and I are going to do our own RAK day. We've started making a list of things to do. Just the planning is making me feel good.
One of the things that my daughter latched onto was a story where one party paid for the car behind them in a drive through line. And then, the pay-it-for..., er um, backward plan kicked in, and the recipient of the first gift, paid for the car behind them, and they paid for the car behind them. I'm not sure how long it went on, but the cynic would say that they were all just passing the original money backward. I would rather see it as all of those people continued a good deed and likely felt inspired and good about their own good deed. She really wants to do this one.
We started a little preparation for this (or something similar at least) by buying a few McD gift cards while we were there the other day. I stuck them in my pocket. As we were walking between stores today I noticed a young mother loading groceries into her van. I also noticed that she had three young children all probably less than 5 in the van already. I pulled a couple of gift cards out of my pocket and walked up to her (trying not to scare her - people are not used to people walking up to them in the parking lot). I asked her if they ever ate at McDonald's (with three young children I thought the odds were pretty good). She said "occasionally." I handed her the cards and suggested that maybe she could take the kids for a treat sometime. She thanked me and I replied with "Merry Christmas" and walked away.
I can't even describe the feeling that I felt as I walked away. It was a small thing, really, but a big gesture. I hope that I gave her a little smile and notice that there are still nice people around. I can't wait to spread more cheer and kindness this week.
Ms Bomar received so much feedback and support for her "birthday project" that she has setup The B'Day Project to inform and inspire others. Remember that birthdays are not the only days to spread goodwill. :-)
