Christmas Highlight

Every year when we open presents I think of how much we get and wish we were giving back in more ways than we do. So this year, I took 15 coffee mugs that we haven't used much if at all and had all four kids (Jordan, Jacob, Sydney, Riley) fill them with hot Chocolate and tea. Then if they wanted they could make cards or things to put in them. I was so proud of them because they all (besides Riley...but he's pretty young) made cards, then proceeded to make ornaments, bookmarks and several other crafts. We were then going to find an "Old Folks" home and deliver them. Jacob was writing in his card and said, "Mom, how do you spell dear?" She asked him what kind of deer because there are different ways to spell it. He said, "I want to write, Dear Old Person". We laughed. I thought that would've been great! I called one Home and left a message telling them what we wanted to do. They never called back. So we decided to chance it and go to a different home. We weren't sure if they would want us to just drop off the mugs and they could deliver them to the people who would be most happy to get them, so if we could...or if they would even take them. When we got there, they were so happy we were there and gave us 15 room numbers and each of the kids got to hand deliver the mugs to 5 residents. The reactions were all great. Some were so surprised, delighted, or shocked...wondering who we were. Some gave the kids cookies or candies or wanted to pay them. One gentlemen was sleeping in his wheelchair. We weren't sure if we should wake him, so we just left his mug on the TV stand. As we were leaving Jacob said, "I think he was dead" rather loudly. We assured him he was probably just sleeping. Another room one of the ladies really wanted hugs from all the kids. She bribed them with cookies. It worked!! As we were leaving she asked for one more from Riley (who loves to answer and talk by roaring). He decided this was the opportunity to do that. So he roared at her then rushed in a hugged her. We all kinda looked surprised like, what do we do. She laughed and said, "That's my kinda kid, nice and feisty!". It felt good to have the kids give and see how much joy you can get from giving back!