Yesterday evening while my family and I were unwinding we got a knock at the door. We assumed it would be religious people seeing as we've been getting tons of invitations to churches lately. Boy, were we wrong. It was our upstairs neighbor with her little boy whom my daughter is friends with bringing us homemade cookies for our family!
So, of course today I'm returning the very sweet thought and experience. Has anything happened to you lately that took you by surprise and helped with sense of faith in humanity?
I had the honor of meeting my friends 93 year old father yesterday and getting a nice hug and I smile as I gave him a plate of cookies! He's a real sweetie pie--sharp as a tack and still living independently in his lifelong home!
through my entire childhood, my Mom made sure we thought of our neighbors. I have been blessed by this, & my sons too. With both of our homes, we were lucky enough to have wonderful neighbors. They bring us fresh produce from their gardens, they buy from my sons' fundraisers, & we return the gestures with help & support when they're in need (& before) & we deliver cookies/goodies at Christmas. Makes life happy, doesn't it? :)
Sweet things: one of my daycare families brought me a huge bag of wonderful treats. The Mom remembered my husband is a diabetic & made sure to have "special" candy just for him. Soooo thoughtful!
& I've been paying it forward a lot this Christmas. Due to emotional distress & lack of funding (my Evil Stepmom financially wiped us out), we had to sell our Family Lake House. It was a relief & blessing, & in honor of our time there....I made Christmas ornaments to commemorate our time together. I filled glass vials with tiny river gravel from our favorite spot on the water. The smiles from my family were sweet, & my Sis even asked for an extra one for one of our childhood friends. :)
My Uncle has been phenomenally supportive since my Dad's death...even thru the sale of our Lake Home. I left a special gift under his bed pillow....& we were about 1/2way home when my Aunt texted me. My Uncle was boohoo'n over his gift....a piece of his beloved childhood which I found on ebay. Well, & he was sloshed (as my son said)....so that's part of why he was crying. :)
As with my daycare kids, I am trying hard to focus on giving....right down to making PB bird feeders for our yards!
There is a young man at work. He is pretty socially inept, but is just the sweetest person. I suspect there are lots of things going on in his life. His mother literally drives him to and from work every day. I have always felt sympathetic to his situation so I always make a point of saying hello to him in the halls and being friendly. The other day, I got to my desk and he had left me a Christmas card. It was a really nice gesture.
I realized, the other day, how much other people love and care for our son. Beyond the grandparents, aunties and cousins... how many people have taken the time to make our little guy feel special and loved. How they have supported our family by lifting him into their hearts since he was born and still make such an effort to connect with him, to offer themselves to him. I feel like he has his 'village' of good people, a warm circle of love and care. This is truly what growing kids need, and I'm so grateful that I know people like this.
I did not grow up with this, so it does my heart good to know that we are moving forward as a family in such a way that all of his needs are being met! That's the best gift I could have ever thought possible.
Hubby & I are both sick and have been most of the week. This morning a church friend brought over homemade Christmas candies and cookies (now Santa can have some!). She came back about an hour later with dinner for tonight after finding out we are sick. She and another lady also offered to run to the store for us before everything closes until Wednesday. Really sweet of them, with both of them getting their own families ready for Christmas.
I have had no less than 4 gifts of sweets! My best friend took a photo of mine that I messed with on photoshop and had it turned into a tea towel. It's my most thoughtful gift!
My college age son went with us to the gym the other day. The guy at the desk ask him if he could keep up with us. He mentioned how hard he had seen me working. Yea! Someone noticed!
We were at Costco last weekend and I went to get my son a snack and drink. I forgot the snack area is cash only so we were just going to get the churro cause I was $1 short. The lady in front of me gave me a dollar and said merry Christmas. A few minutes later, while rumaging for something else in my purse, I found a dollar - sigh! I went to pay her back as she was still nearby. She just said, no keep it-Merry Christmas to you and your lovely boy :)
I'm looking forward to paying it forward the next time I have a chance :)
yesterday while I was at the mall wrapping presents for Mutts Matter dog rescue - a person came to the table with a $10 bill and said she had found it outside and instead of keeping - it she wanted something good to come of it!!
That $10 will buy dog food for the dogs in transition from abused homes to real homes!!!
there have been other good things too!!! I can't give up on humanity!!! Even though bad things happen - we can't control it - so my motto is:
NEVER GIVE UP!!! NEVER SURRENDER!! :)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Well, this is kind of in reverse but.....my niece was throwing a surprise bridal shower for her sister (my other niece) this past Sunday night but was having trouble getting everything put together and I knew she was very short on money, time and ideas. She had invited people and the party was to take place in 24 hours and she was in no way ready!! She was close to tears when we got to talking....and I asked: do you have the food? No! Do you have decorations? No! Do you have a cake? No! So, since I have thrown lots of parties I knew what had to be done and my daughter and I and another niece went into action!!
Thank Heavens for Wal-mart and that wonderful cake decorator lady - she was able to make a plain cake (that was already made) look beautiful and well planned out!! lol!
We got the food, decorations and my niece got some party games off the internet.
By the time the bride-to-be walked in the door she was thrilled, surprised and had absolutely no idea the chaos that had taken place in the previous 24 hours!
My niece who had "planned" the party was very thankful and I think a little shocked that I was able to do so much so fast!! I didn't do it to get patted on the back; I just wanted my niece to have a memorable bridal shower - it was wonderful and all worth it for a young girl to have a great party; no matter how it got thrown!!
Great question!
Tonight as my family was traveling back home, we were crossing over a bridge. We got to the toll booth to pay our toll and were told that the car ahead of us had paid for us! I was really sweet of them. When we got up next to them, we thanked them.I really appreciated that gift tonight.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
This was very sweet.
