Day Eight.

Today Jessie had a partner in crime!!  Both girls donned Santa hats and headed out in the chilly air to find someone walking in town.  (I kept Jack home with me!! ) When they found someone the girls were instructed to hand them a bag of delicious Lindor Truffles and explain that this was a Random Act of Kindness.  Apparently the lady they stopped as she left the post office was most delighted at their offering and left with a big smile on her face! ;D  Mission accomplished!!!

Day Seven!

Today's Act was a quickie but appreciated none the less! ; D  We put a $5 Starbucks Gift Card in the mail box for our mail carrier, Becky.  She is so lovely and works hard all year long, a little unexpected pick me up should brighten her day we hope! ;D  

We were peeking from behind the curtains when she drove up today and she looked for us when she opened our mail box and found her treat!!  She waved and mouthed "THANK YOU!!" to the kids!  

Spreading the Starbucks love!! ;D  

Day Six

This was a cheap, easy and effective Act today!  We baked a big batch of sugar cookies and took them to the gas station where hungry folk on their way to work could help themselves to yummy cookies to go with their coffee!  Those who took one whilst we were there were very grateful!  Frankly I was surprised they let us leave them there and had banked on telling the staff to eat them for themselves if that was the case but the manager didn't seem to blink!  The benefits of small town living I think! :D

Day Five!

Today's Act of Kindness was heaps of fun!!

We bought 12 Candy Canes and made little cards that said "Something Sweet for Someone Sweet.   Join us in our 25 days of Random Acts of Kindness."  We cut two slits in the cards and poked the canes through.  We set them in a basket and Jack and I donned our Santa hats.  At the appropriate time he and I headed across the street to the bus stop where the kiddies were due to get dropped off home for the day.  It was pretty breezy out there but Jack and I amused ourselves and kept warm by jumping up and down and dancing as we waited for the bus.  Since we were both in our Santa hats, every car that went by felt obliged to wave to us for some reason!!!  It was hilarious to see them but of course we obligingly waved back!!   When the bus finally arrived Jack walked up to it and as the children departed he offered them each a Candy Cane and wished them a Merry Christmas.  The children were really excited ( and the children who remained on the bus were intrigued and probably frustrated...!  :)  )   If I'd have been thinking I'd have had enough for each child on the bus too, but I didn't this time.  (Hmm....  you can get those tiny candy canes... there's about 60 in the box....  *Note to self...!!)  The children were all smiles and very grateful AND there were three left so we each were able to dip one in a nice hot cup of cocoa when we got back home!

Perfect!

The Candy Canes ready to go!

My Handy Helper Hander Outer !

Passing out the loot!

Day Four

Showing the UPS guy some love!

We love our UPS guy and at this time of year we tend to see a lot of him thanks to online shopping!  On our way home from Target today we happened to spot him pulling into the Subway parking lot.  We turned our van around and pulled in behind him.  Jessie jumped out and handed him a $5 Starbucks gift card with a snowman on the front.  At first he was a little confused and thought she meant she wanted him to deliver the gift to someone else but she finally managed to explain! He was very pleased, thanked us profusely and wished us a Merry Christmas!  Hopefully he'll get himself something to keep up his energy with all the running around he's going to be doing!

Day Three!

Today's Act was an easy and fun one...!  We checked out the post office website and picked a book of stamps and chose this one...

At the post office we handed over $9 and a card that said "Share some Christmas Cheer on us and enjoy this random Act of Kindness as we count down the 25 days to Christmas." We asked the lovely Kathy, the post mistress, to hold onto the stamps and card and to give them to the next person who picked out the holiday stamps!  She seemed delighted with the idea and exclaimed "FANTASTIC!!" I like to think this will help someone keep in touch with loved ones at Christmas...! :D  (or pay bills... but, you know, sending Christmas cards is more romantic!!) 

Random Acts Day Two

Today it was back to our little grocery store again.. this time we needed some tortillas but we had another cunning plan! We had a little plastic bag with four dollar bills inside and a note we had written. We intended to paste this note to the front of the pop machine outside the store.  As we drove up we noticed a young girl trying to get a drink from the machine.  She was fishing around trying to find change.  We walked up to the machine and she stepped away, apologizing!  We reached into our bag and handed her a dollar bill.  She said "Oh no!  I'm fine!!" but then we explained she had to take it and showed her our little sign!  She laughed and thanked us.  She used the bill and bought a drink for herself and then, with the change, she bought a drink for the little girl who was with her!!  Jessie and I carried on and stuck up our bag and our little note and then went into the store and carried on with our business!  We both wanted to stay and watch what happened when people saw the sign but we also prefer the secret santa sort of idea where you just have to imagine what happens next!! ;D

Our little sign!

25 Random Acts of Kindness. Day One.

This year, instead of the usual advent calendars and such, we thought we'd try and different and exciting approach to the countdown to Christmas.  We are planning to perform at least one random act of kindness every day from the first through the 25th of December.

***DID YOU KNOW?!?! ***
Performing Acts of Kindness is shown to produce the hormone Oxytocin in the body.  This hormone is proven to lower blood pressure!  SO Act of Kindness are not only good for others but good for you TOO!!  Try it yourself and see!!!!

 Our first Random Act was pretty fun!  We went to our tiny local grocery store in our tiny town to buy a potato.  One potato.  I asked Jessie to run and ask the checkout lady how many people worked in the store.  She told her four.  When I went to check out I casually asked for the potato and five separate lottery tickets.  She gave them to me and rang me up.  I thanked her of course and then handed back four of the tickets!  She was a little confused of course but then we explained ourselves and said there was one ticket for each employee.  She was very excited and grateful!!  We left the store feeling quite giddy and looking forward to tomorrow's act!