Daily Random Acts of Kindess

Back on the second day of this month I wrote about a different kind of Advent Calendar. Essentially, instead of doing a Christmas count down with a tiny piece of chocolate each morning, we are doing a random act of kindness for each day leading up to Christmas.

So far we have:

• Donated food to the food bank
• Paid for the customer behind us at Tim Hortons (coffee shop)
• Make friends with someone
• We were generous with hugs and smiles
• Donated coloring books and crayons to the dotctors office
• Did chores without being asked
• Delivered cookies to the RCMP (police) and Paramedics
• Made homemade bird feeders for our feathered friends (and a couple squirrels)
• Donated some of our toys
• Called family members we hadn’t talked to for a long time
• Rounded up stray shopping carts in a parking lot
• Shovelled a neighbor’s driveway
• Surprised the garbage/recycling collectors with a box of chocolates
• Ran an errand for a friend
• Write a nice letter and mail it to someone who doesn’t get much mail
• Had a family fun night
• Lent a helping hand
• Volunteered at an event in our community
• Chose our 3 favorite decorated houses and gave them a certificate
• Baked cookies and shared them with the boys’s teachers and bus driver

Tomorrow we’ll be on the road travelling for an over-nighter. Crash has yet another oral consult to find out what can be done about his front tooth that has come in pointing towards the back of his mouth. Braces? Surgery? Something else entirely?

While we are at the hospital on Wednesday we will “candy cane bomb” as many cars as we can (64 since that’s how many candy canes we have). Each on has a Merry Christmas message taped to it and we’ll leave them randomly under windshields.

Then on Thursday we’ll leave money in vending machines so that when people go get a treat or drink they’ll find it’s already paid for.

Upon our return we will only have 2 more Random Acts of Kindness or, as Bang calls it, Random Actness Kindness before Christmas morning.

The whole purpose when we started this was teach the boys the true meaning of Christmas. It’s not about the gifts we’re going to get or Santa or Christmas lists. It’s also not about all the decorations or the sweets. It’s about being thankful for what we have. It’s being thankful that we are able to help others simply to make them feel good. It’s about the first rule of Christmas:

It is far better to give than it is to receive.

Bang took to it like a reindeer to flight. He was eager to help. If you could have seen him during the event where we helped serve 250 senior citizens turkey supper you would have seen him serving plates of food and later handing dishes over to be washed. While Crashed joined us and was eager to help he would still ask, “Do we get anything for helping?” No. You get thanked.

But it’s hard when you’re 9, I guess. To his credit, we have caught him doing more for others. Holding doors, helping others when he can, and attempting to think of others first. He’s made “gingerbread men” for the doctor(s) we’ll see tomorrow by drawing people on brown cardboard and coloring them. So we take our wins where we can. Perhaps he is learning after all.

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