25 Days of Small Gifts!
Christmas … joy, peace, love, and giving.
There are so many opportunities to be kind to one another, but honestly I think the hustle of the season gets in our way.
My goal for the next 25 days is to surprise myself by giving to others, even in the simplest way.
EVERY DAY.
I’m calling it “25 Days of Small Gifts.”
Here are a few ideas:
-Buy coffee for the person behind you in line.
-Overtip the breakfast waitress.
-Write a thank you note.
-Strike up conversation with someone in the grocery store.
-Take another family a “surprise” dinner and leave it at their front door (and include the recipe!)
-Overpay your babysitter.
-Offer to help remove groceries from the cart to the car for an elderly person.
-Have your kids tape a little money to a vending machine and write a note that says, “Candy Bar on US!”
-Go to lunch with a neglected friend.
-Help a coworker scrape the frost off their windshield at the end of a long day.
-Buy lunch for the person in front of you.
-Offer to do the dishes when it’s your kid’s “dish day.”
-Give a back rub to someone in your home.
-Shovel (or blow) your neighbors’ sidewalks too.
-When playing games with your children, let them win.
-Watch It’s a Wonderful Life, together as a family or with friends.
-Slow down and prioritize a date night with your spouse.
-Encourage your kids to share musical talents with the elderly.
-Hug a person.
The list can go on and on …
Don’t you think this is a great idea to share with your family? It gets us thinking more about others, less about ourselves.
What small random act of kindness comes to mind that you can surprise someone with over the next 25 Days?
(Top photo: My daughter with her Grandpa Milt. And, HAPPY DECEMBER 1, Friends!)
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
Text a friend just to say “hi, I’m thinking of you”.
After contemplating your Nov. 30 post (about not dumping my expectations in my family’s lap), what really stands out to me here is that these are ways I personally can choose to give of myself, from my heart, to share love….NOT these are ways I can rope my family into more good deeds! : )
Love this list and this post! May we carry the holiday season into the rest of the year :)
Love your ideas Sandy!! To show some love to others can be so simple! We are doing some “small gifts” for others with our kiddos this holiday season. A couple include: having the kids make Christmas cards to send to our troops and taking a box of doggie treats to the Humane Society :)
wonderful, Sandy – this list gives me some great ideas … I’m going to linclude some money in some of the kids’ Advent doors with some suggestions on how they might use it – ultimately they get to decide, but it will start a fun conversation
LOVE this. So very important to do the *little things*. We often have no idea how big the ring of warmth from our thoughtful actions will travel.
And it’s been my experience that they do indeed travel far & wide.
I’m a big fan of leaving little packages of cheer, even just a handmade card, on friends/neighbors doorsteps.
Love these simple ideas that could mean so much to someone else! Another popular one I have heard of is buying the person behind you in line their coffee in the morning. It really is the little things.
I’ve been trying to think of special things like this to do today, as it is my birthday! I love it as it is also the start of this festive season. Thanks for the idea of doing one thing a day through the month — ABSOLUTELY! I had already scheduled some such things into my daughter’s Activity Advent calendar — like going shopping for food specifically to donate to the food bank, buying pet food to donate to the animal shelter, etc. I shall have to enlist her help in coming up with more. Thanks!
Wonderful- all it takes is a little kindness- you have inspired me today.
Thanks
What o lovely idea. My sweet son does things like this often…especially when it comes to helping elderly folks at the grocery store. Something we do as a family this time of year is to take a pair of new tube socks and put one inside the other, then fill it with some goodies…a granola bar, a bottle of water, a dollar, a holy card, and a hand written note. Then we pass these out to homeless people we meet along the roadside.
Love,
Mary
Love this reminder of the small things we can do that will brighten someone’s day!
I love all these ideas!! Spreading joy and friendship is always a wonderful gift. These give me some great ideas for our advent calendar, which starts today. Thanks, Sandy :)
You have the most generous soul, I’m so glad I found you on the web.
Anyways, my little act of kindness is something I do every week – when taking back the grocery cart I never take the 25 cents out that you use to lock it – I just leave the cart for the next person. It’s a small gesture, but I know someone will appreciate it.
BTW – I linked you in today on my posting.
I heart your heart. :) Thanks for this.
We’re going to gift some goodies again this year and include some we haven’t- there is a lady who sits on the metro stairs selling homemade, traditional bread and she always smiles at us (unusual here!) and always calls out to the girls about what princesses they are- can’t wait to hand her a little treat and card!
Ok, so this has nothing to do with your topic, but I was at the coffee hosted by the French wives this morning and Chantalle made the most amazing little appetizer and served them in glass cups a little bigger than a regular sized shot glass with little demitasse spoons- tiny chunks of tomato & apples and pesto (and a little extra basil she said). I would have never combined the three, but it was so good!! Anyway- thought of you and thought I’d share. :) {The other food was equally amazing- gratin potatoes (with coconut!!), mousse…}