Our first year started off fantastic and hit a bump on day 16 when I had to be admitted for emergency surgery. My sweet husband knew how excited I was about completing the 25 days of random acts of kindness an how important I felt it was for A, so he and our Prince continued while I was in recovery.
I printed very simple tags to attach to each thing we gifted. The bottom reads "This year our family is counting down the 25 days of Christmas by performing random acts of Christmas kindness each day! Wishing you love, health and smiles!"
I began keeping track of our daily acts of kindness, but I lost track when recuperating. I wanted to share with you the acts that I do recall.
- Picked a Senior Angel from Walmart Cristmas tree and dropped off gift on our way to the airport :)
- Took Nana's neighbor, Mr. Wesley, a dozen of eggs from Nana's chickens
- Took Mr. Ricky, Nana's neighbor, a jar of Nana's home grown and and canned jalapenos and treats for his doggie (a few days later Mr. Rick left a wrapped present at Nana's house with a note stating that an early present from Santa had been left for Aiden at his home)
- Handed out packets of gum, on multiple days, at Chipotle, Target, the Dentist office and the pet store (the teenagers/young adults that were RACK'd always responded with "cool", "awesome, little dude", etc. Aiden loved that!
- Walked around the Winter Garden shopping village and handed out tons of candy canes
- Gave away a free Starbucks gift card to a man at Starbucks
- Bought the car behind us their Starbucks coffee order
- Placed quarters in the candy machine at the grocery store
- Gave a customer a $5 off grocery bill coupon at the super market
- Handed out fuzzy, comfy socks to ladies on the airplane and in airport
- Took chocolates to our neighbor
- Took caramel popcorn to another neighbor
- Took Starbucks hot chocolate to the salvation army bell ringer on a freezing New Mexico night
- Gave Godiva chocolates to a home school momma at PE and Art
- Gave away a Walmart gift card
- Donated food to the food pantry
One day...I will take pictures with my camera and they won't be so icky...forgive me, my phone tends to be handier. Here are a couple of pictures of my Prince doing his acts of kindness in 2011 :)
Gum
Candy Canes
Quarters in candy machines
More than the giving, it was the feelings he felt when giving and the multitude of gratitude he saw in return that our Prince will never be able to forget. Two separate families that he RACK'd showed up at the house, one in FL and one in NM, with a gift that Santa had mistakenly left at their home for him. The lady in the airport that he gifted with fuzzy socks began crying and said that she was so grateful for the kindness because she had experienced an awful day. The salvation army bell ringer was so excited to receive hot chocolate on a freezing night that he just beamed. The manager at a local restaurant gave Aiden over 20 free kids meals in response to his kindness.
Each time, my sweet boy would say "I'm not doing this to get things in return, I'm just being kind." It is so important to us for our Prince to learn that the only thing we need to receive in return for doing "good" is the feeling that we put "goodness" into the world.
During these 25 days, I went through the Starbucks drive thru and the car ahead of me had purchased my coffee, Aiden was so tickled for me and said that it must have been the same person we purchased coffee for days earlier. He was certain that our acts of kindness were influencing others to do the same. I am certain he did positively influence people.
He is so excited to carry on the tradition this year.
Happy Holidays.
