Aren’t these stockings adorable? Eva submitted them to our photo gallery (for the Q4 Challenge – and how are YOU doing on that?) and I asked permission to share this photo on my blog. You can get the pattern free from this site. (I love Julie’s website and am the proud owner of some of her wonderful knitted toys. If you have never heard of her, please do not ask to be put on her email list for updates in her shop, as that is just that many more people that I have to compete with when I want to get another one of her toys get on her email list so that you will know when she updates. Her toys are so fun and beautifully done. Each one is a treasure.)
I know I said this last week, too, but I have just so enjoyed reading about all of your RAKs. Truly, they are so inspiring. (If you missed them, you’ll find them in the comments here and here, although there have been others left in comments on other days of the week as well. We’ll continue having RAK Reporting Day every Monday in December.) Today is another RAK day, so leave your comments telling us the things that you have done in kindness to others since last Monday’s blog post. Before I post on Wednesday, I’ll draw another name for the winner of this week’s Loopy Loot gift package! (We have had patterns, books, and even skeins of Wollmeise from Claudia herself, donated to our RAK gift packages! Yay!) One thing that several people have commented on and I have often thought about, too – isn’t it a little sad that doing something kind for people is so surprising to so many? You show them a common (or uncommonly kind) courtesy, and they can’t believe it. Their response is, “Oh my goodness – why would you do that?” I guess that is just proof that there isn’t nearly enough of this RAK stuff going on around the world and we need to do more. It shouldn’t be so astonishing to people. So I’m glad we’re all working on it, and really glad to have all of these fun ideas every week.
Thanks for weighing in on Spring Fling sign-ups. What we have decided to do is open up signups next week (details in next Monday’s blog) but we won’t require your first payment until mid-January. That way, everyone is happy. 🙂 College Guy is coming home this week for Christmas Break (yay!) and we’ll work on getting the information page done so that you can check out the details of The Fling. We’ll also keep signups open all week next week, so that you don’t have to stress about being first in line. (Or we’ll keep it open longer than that if it hasn’t all filled up. We really have no idea what to expect. If we get more than our limit, we’ll pull names and keep a back-up list in case anyone cancels at the last minute.)
Is anyone done with their holiday knitting? I’m woefully behind.
Sheri obviouslyneedingaFlingRetreatrightnowtogetthisknittingdone
My RAK happened this morning. A co-worker of mine always keeps a candy dish in her office choc full of goodles. Today we went to lunch together, and then stopped by the store her to fill up the dish…I told her I would pay for it this time! I think I’m the only one who has brought in candy for the dish! The best part is we all get to enjoy it!!
RAK was shoveling out driveway from 24″ of snow so WH wouldn’t have to do it! Also completed baby cap and booties for folks I don’t know, but WH does.
Love the little socks!!!
I picked up my mother-in-law, who doesn’t drive, so she could attend our son’s church Christmas program and then had her over of a warm bowl of chili before taking her back to her apartment last night.
I do have my Holiday knitting done!! As a filler now, I started Loopy’s Red Sock Kit that came with one of my Loopy orders. I just have to decrease for the toe and then it’s getting hung on my Christmas tree. What a fun little project, Thanks for sending it!
I love the little sock website and I’ll be sure to print off the pattern to make more for the tree, or little gifts – for next year…..
I know what you mean about the rarity of RAK’s; this always makes me quite self-conscious about the more interesting and generous ideas I have. On Friday I had a container of home baked cookies left over from a class party and wanted to hand them out to strangers but of course everyone was too leery of someone handing out food to eat them. I gave them to a girl in my class to take home for her and her husbnad. Usually I just end up doing the more ordinary things, like giving up my seat for elderly people or children in the subway or bus. Let’s see, this week we helped push out several cars that got stuck in the snow at the Christmas tree farm, when the rest of the people were just walking away. What else…I don’t know if kindness to (dead) animals counts, but there was a poor dead (very large) rat in the driveway of a house up the street and the owners of the house just left it there for days. This morning it had been run over, so I finally removed it so that at least it could rest in peace.
I still have a pair of socks and two sweaters to finish before Christmas so I’d better get back to work! By the way, I’ve been doing lots of darning this week with my new darning egg and it’s beautiful; it makes darning almost enjoyable. Thanks, Sheri, for making those available.
True confessions: this RAK isn’t random, because it’s been planned for awhile, but it touched me so much I have to submit it. My pastor is dying of cancer…and the end is very near. I’d been knitting a prayer shawl for her, and decided that I wanted the entire congregation to be able to pray for her over the fringe they could attach to it. It meant so much to me to be able to help so many folks “do something” with their grief when they cannot see her right now (she’s had to restrict visitation). I got to give the shawl to her this morning, and even though it is so hard for me, it is such a blessing to see how much these prayers, cares, and love mean to her.
Let’s see.. i was super nice to all of the salespeople & fellow shoppers ( and it was a crazy bump-into-me with a carriage kinda day )while christmas shopping all day on sunday, but i had two little RAK’s that came up while shopping – gave a busy salesclerk my only pen because he couldn’t find his and had a line a mile long of customers. Then when making a quick dash to the grocery store, there was a young boy ( 9ish) with one item and a handful of cash. He didn’t have enough to cover so i gave the cashier the change he was missing once he left.
gotta go – lot’s of wrapping and knitting and knitting and wrapping to do.
🙂
I’m actually on track for my Christmas knitting this year, first time ever! My RAK this week was calling my MIL to tell her that my daughter and I are going to spend a couple of days visiting her this Christmas. This is a kindness because my husband won’t be with us, and we don’t get along, at all! But her mom will be there, and she is a real sweetie!
My RAK:
School was two hours late. I went in to find that school had then been canceled. Three of the five teachers were sick with the flu. So, I stayed and called parents to let them know and to make sure that everything was running smoothly.
A couple of examples, but I’ll only take credit for one.
After my 2-year-old’s Christmas concert at our onsite daycare here at work, we headed out to the parking lot. Our truck was covered in snow, so I pulled out my ice scraper and a little one for my son. I was working on the truck when I noticed he wasn’t right beside me. After the momentary panic, I found him dusting off the wheels of the minivan parked next to us. It happened to belong to a good friend of mine, and when I asked him what he was doing, he replied that he was “scraping Erin’s van so she don’t have to.” So, I helped him finish the job. My friend mentioned the next day that it was so nice to come out to the parking lot to find her van already cleaned off after a big snowfall and a long day at work.
The second happened at Wal-Mart. All the cashier lines were full, and after waiting over 20 minutes it was my turn. As I started unloading my very full cart, I noticed the woman behind me had three things in her arms. I told her to go ahead, and she was stunned. She almost didn’t take me up on the offer, but I assured her it was fine.
Thanks for promoting this, I’m enjoying reading the stories and creating some of my own.
I put my neighbors Christmas lights up, and removed a nest of mice from her house. Does that count for two RAK’s?
My bag of rice burst open on the checkout stand at the grocery, so I asked the checkout clerk for some paper towels and cleaned it up. She told me not to worry about it, but I insisted and at least got it cleaned up enough so no one would slip on all that rice. (Neither one of us could figure out how the bag of rice split open in the middle when I put it on the conveyor – I guess that was the random part ;>)
The SuperTarget where I shop has a Starbucks in it. The security guy is always outside in the parking lot zipping around on a Segway (which is pretty hysterical). He always makes sure I get to my car safely and we chat frequently. We had a big cold snap yesterday and it’s now in the 30s. I don’t know what he likes to drink and I imagine the store has rules about what he can do on duty – not to mention the navigation issues of a Segway and coffee. So, I bought him a 5 dollar Starbucks gift card and told him his next break was on me. He was tickled pink that I thought of him on such a cold day.
What wonderful acts! I love reading all about them. We’ve done a few the past couple of days…
While out to dinner the other night we noticed donation envelopes on the table. We placed a donation into the envelope and gave it to our server as instructed. She seemed shocked – apparently no one else has donated yet this year, let alone a group of youngins’ (we’re in our 20’s).
While at work yesterday it got a bit slow in the afternoon due to impending snow. A young girl and her mom came into the store. The young girl just had hip surgery due to falling and breaking her hip (OUCH!!!) and was using her walker. She wanted to come into the shop to get yarn for a holiday hat for her American Girl doll. I wrote her a pattern, helped her pick out yarn and then taught her to use DPNs. She was a natural.
I knit a shawl for hubby’s granny for Christmas. She doesn’t have a scarf and looked cold the other night after we made them dinner, so I gave it to her early. 🙂
I am really apreciating reading all the RAKs and looking for opportunities during the week to be kind just because you can. This weekend I had several errands that took me to stores with the holiday bell-ringing/kettles. I had a bunch of change and made a point to put something in every kettle I came to, and to say something nice/encouraging/appreciative to the folks ringing those bells.
Karma or RAK?..a little of both. My husband takes our dog swimming at a lake very early every Sat. morning – while he was driving out of town, he noticed a wallet right in the middle of the road. He stopped and picked it up and continued on his way. He was going to call the person that lost it when he got home. This big, fat stuffed wallet had this young man’s whole life in it…SocSec card, credit cards, library, business, phone, passwords, etc, …AND $500.00!!…We looked up the name in the phone book..no luck..finally found his volunteer fireman card and called the station, left a message…he later called back and arranged to meet at the fire station where he was working that day. My husband handed him the wallet (not expecting anything)…he took it, said, “thanks”…turned and walked away. No show of appreciation whatsoever. If we were dishonest people, his whole life was in that wallet – he would have lost alot!…Anyway, that next week at work (Mon or Tues) a fellow worker handed my husband $500.00 for helping him with a huge project while he was gone. I thought my husband was joking around when he told me, coz this never happens – I’m glad it did – he helps alot of people and doesn’t expect anything back. It was just kind of a “goose bump” moment. A good lesson in doing the right thing.
Well, all my friends know that if they receive their Christmas kniiting by Christmas, that they are just lucky. I should be done by the end of January. But I figure that this way it just spreads the joy out a little longer.
Last weeks RAK, I went to the Rehab facility that my Mother used to be in and brought care packages for her two former roommates. Then on Saturday I went really early to the mall, and followed into the store a young mother and her two little boys, one of whom was in a stroller. All the way in, one or the other boy would drop something and the mom kept stopping and picking up. However, once in the store she could not hear things fall on the carpet and I would pick up the item and give it to her. Well she went one way and I went the other and while I was heading back out, I spotted on the floor the stuffed bear that her oldest had and picked it up. I was able to find her still in the store, her son was just beside himself as his bear was gone and she was also very upset. Turns out, she had put $200 into the bear for safekeeping! Needless to say, they both were very happy to see me. Her little boy said he wanted to have the bear for his Santa picture and would ask Santa to make sure I got what I wanted for Christmas.
Hi Sheri,
We had our first snowstorm of the season this weekend here in Reno. After I finished shoveling my front walk I went ahead and shoveled my neighbor’s walkway too. She’s an elderly woman and I’m sure she was pleasantly surprised to discover that she didn’t have to go out in the cold and snow. It felt so great to do something nice for someone else.
What cute mini stockings – And I will so have to go to the spring fling! Its on my calendar already!
For my RAK – I do alot of frequent flying – and have so many upgrades I cannot use them all – so when I’m at the counter – either airport check in or gate – I ask if there are open seats in first or business and up grade a military person – Some have been heading home from their tour, or holiday, and some are just heading out to begin their tours. They are always grateful and have such moving stories. I support the troups, even if I do not agree with the conflicts.
Hope to catch the sneak!
A co-worker was way way overtired and over stressed. She had piles and piles of work on her desk so one night when I was working late, I decided to pick up a few files and do the bit of work that had to be done on them so she’d have less to do the next day. Not sure if she noticed but it made me feel good to take a little off of her plate.
Over the weekend we went out and finished up most of our Christmas Shopping (at least until the new releases come out). While waiting to checkout a woman with only 1 item got into line behind us. I was going to let her go ahead of us until we found her a line with no waiting.
With Christmas baking and such going on, I got almost no knitting done. Thankfully My Christmas knitting is done.
RAKs
As per my new habit – I paid for a few folks in line behind me at Starbucks this week. To make it a bit more special, I added a Starbucks ornament to their order and had the Barista give it to them with their coffee.
And why stop at Starbucks? I paid for the person behind me at McDonald’s too, who had a small child with her. If she’s anything like me, I end up leaving my purse in the backseat beside the carseat all the time. oops!
My mom has been complaining that she never gets any help from my dad or sister (who lives at home) in getting any house chores done. So my husband and I went over this weekend and decorated her house for the holidays.
I found a cell phone on the ground in front of the house across the street and rang the bell to give it back (I’m assuming it was their phone) but nobody was home so I placed it in their mailbox.
I found a fun way to do a mostly random act of kindness. There is a challenge going on in the blogosphere now called Pay It Forward. The idea is put a post on your blog to promising to send something handmade to the first three people who leave a comment on your blog asking for it. The only catch it that the recipients then have to offer to do the same for three others. You can make any item that you choose and you have 365 days to do it. How’s that for a way to beat the winter blues?! If you are interested in participating there are slots available on my knitting blog.
This week’s RAK:
1. Made brownies for the garbage men since they’ve worked really hard the last few weeks as I’ve cleaned out my house.
2. In the process of cleaning out the house, donated about 50 books to the high school.
3. On a dare to each other, my sister and I spent 2 hours at the local grocery store putting away grocery carts. You should have seen the look on the cart boys face when every single cart was in the corrals!
My RAK will be on-going. I joined Macuwitasni, which is a Yahoo!group. Members are knitting sweaters, hats, mittens, etc. in the warmest possible wool or wool blend for Cheyenne River Sioux folks. I cast on a size 4 sweater for a little person. I am using up odds and ends of wool…kids like color and it will keep a child warm. I am going to knit something each month for this project. Hope others join too.
There’s a lady at work that is moving, and I noticed that she was snagging boxes randomly throughout the office. I just recently moved and had a bunch of empty boxes, so I put them in her cube so she would find them. It wasn’t necessarily an annonimous RAK because of some of the markings on the box, but it did make her day, and I was happy I was able to help her out.
I really look forward to your blog this month – definitely keeps me in the right spirit of the season.
On knitting – just as I was feeling I had entered the black hole with this final knitted project (socks for my mom) I suddenly realized last night that I was done with the foot – I have only the toe. The other sock is a bit more than half done – ready to turn the heel. I’m beginning to think there might be light at the end of the tunnel.
RAK – at work we sign up every December *if we want* to donate to one of several selected charities. I dug a bit deeper this year for my twice monthly contribution and have gone with the Humane Society for 2008 – I really do have a soft spot for all those cats and dogs in need of homes (I’m seriously resisting the urge to adopt another cat right now but I already have 3 so…..). Also, my property manager last week was instrumental in wheedling the roofer into doing the permanent fix for my condo last week instead of waiting until after the New Year (as he told me) so I’m picking up twin gift cards for her (book store & Starbucks). I guess that’s a RAK in progress 😉 I almost got in a (play) fight this morning with one of the guys from work as we each tried to buy the other’s coffee 🙂 The girl behind the counter was amused and perhaps worried that we were going to arm wrestle for the privilege.
I hate to say it, but I’m right on task with my Christmas knitting. Even the knee socks from you-know-where are coming along. I figure I have another 12hrs or so of knitting them & they will be done.
RAOKs:
– while at the commissary there was a young mother with three small children trying to wrangle them (wrangle wrangle wrangle) into a cart. One small boy was crying inconsolably because there were no more “little” carts (the mini kid-sized carts). He was so sad, obeying his mom but obviously very disappointed that he couldn’t have his own cart. I had just seen one abandoned at the other end of the commissary so I walked across the store & fetched the little cart & caught up to the mom & her family as they were entering the first aisle of the store. On our way out a little later we saw her loading her children & groceries into her van…parked in a “spouse of a deployed soldier” parking space.
– I’m also knitting baby socks for all the new and to-be mothers on my message board for military spouses. I’ve made four pairs of socks and three baby hats so far w/ at least three more pairs of socks and four more hats to go.
My RAK was due to an email from a knitter in Scotland (via Ravelry) who wanted to knit her Mother a pair of Duet socks in the Chocolate Crunch colorway. I happen to have a skein and she asked if I would be willing to part with it. My own Mother died the day before Thanksgiving, she went in for bowel obstruction surgery the previous Sunday and she had cancer throughout her colon/intestines etc and she never really awoke from surgery and we had to decide to shut off the ventilator (she had a living will, but they still made us choose) when her kidneys shut down. Anyway, I quickly packaged up the yarn and hurried to the post office and mailed it to her (I had no idea what a hassle international mailing is – I feel sorry for you Sherry) and sent her an email telling her it was my gift and I told her to knit those socks for her Mom and have a Merry Christmas. It is still sad here (it’s only been 2 1/2 weeks) but it helped to know I made a Mom happy.
As for my RAK – it’s just a little one and it wasn’t that random, but I still see it as a kind act. I was given a bag of Christmas candy, including chocolate, and I gave it to my co-worker who has grandchildren so she could give it all to them. I guess one could say it was selfish because I didn’t want the calories (trying not to gain weight this holiday season), but I know her grandchildren will enjoy the sweets more than I would after the guilt is added in.
As for gift knitting, I’ve done one sock and started the second. I like these a lot so I’m trying hard to remind myself they are not for me. After the second sock is done, I have to get back to work on the baby blanket for the baby due Jan 2!! Doable, if I didn’t have other Christmas stuff to do.
Does knitting stuff that you were going to give LAST Christmas count?
Today is my daughter’s birthday (11)–she wants to know if her sweater is done. It is big enough (or she is petite enough) that I think I still have a couple years leeway–give or take five.
My RAK today was buying a new bag of ice melt for my apartment house. The woman upstairs takes care of the steps and front sidewalk most of the time, but the kids and I do our share of walking in and out!
I have made a few gift bags with handknit washcloths and some soaps and
frangrances for some of the people who live in our senior center building and
do not have much. I also am sending a little gift basket to someone in a nursing
home. I know this person so I’m not sure it’s an RAK. I am still receiving
RAK’s for which I am so grateful. Nancy has finished the last six rows of my
scarf for me.
Our 7 year old daughter was in our church Christmas pageant this past week. All the younger kids were assigned an older teen/college student to partner with to ensure the kids were safe on stage, got where they needed to be on time, helped with costumes, etc.
Our daughter’s buddy was a charming young woman from the local Bible college. She brought our daughter a gift bag the other night containing craft supplies because my daughter told her how much she enjoys craft projects. Yesterday she gave us two framed pictures she took of our daughter with her digital camera. Understand that before last Sunday night, we had never met this young woman! Her kindness to our entire family just blew us away.
We decided the least we could do was take her out to dinner last night. It doesn’t seem like much but we remember being poor Bible college students ourselves…the dining hall is closed on Sunday nights which usually means PB&J.
I am planning to gift a co-worker with some lovely hand dyed yarn – I know she won’t be expecting it (and she does not treat herself to the good stuff very often, if at all). We were out a few months ago at a LYS in DC during our lunch hour and she happened to notice a particular color that she liked. I mentioned I thought I had that in my stash. So, rather than let it continue to marinate in the stash or try to sell it, I’m going to pass it along to a good home.
Otherwise, I helped someone out with directions last week. I noticed someone looked a little lost and sometimes I can be hesitant about approaching people I don’t know. Well, the gentleman was so pleased that someone had taken the time to help him out.
Oh, and I am also behind on both Christmas gift knitting (which is very limited this year) and the 4Q challenge – I hope to get both done, but I’m mainly focusing all my time on the Loopy Swap to keep on track with the timing and because I’m completely in love with the pattern myself… : )
I wish I wasn’t at work, so I could read all of these! It’s so heartwarming to see so much kindness being shared all over.
My RAK isn’t so random, since I had to make an appointment. In one hour, I’ll be donating blood. This is something I try to do as often as I can, and it never fails to make me happy, knowing that I’m giving something that is such an essential part of myself to someone who is really in need of it.
I did the grocery store coupon thing again today.
I work at an elementary school as a lunchtime supervisor. Today I left a pair of knit mittens in the sleeve of a little boys coat, because I knew he had no mittens to wear out in the snow. No one saw me, and I denied it when asked if I did it 🙂
RAK… at about 10:30 Saturday night we were leaving my daughter’s Nutcracker performance and a guy asked us for a jump because his car wouldn’t start. He had his 2 small kids and a 4 week old baby with him. As it turns out the car wouldn’t start at all and we were about an hour away from home. He lives about 20 minutes past our town. We found someone else going the same direction and split up the kids and gave them all a ride home. He was going to try to call someone to come get him (which made no sense since they would have had to travel over an hour to get him and his 3 kids would have been sitting in an car with no heat). It was a good lesson for my daughter as well, because she was exhausted, crabby, tired etc and just wanted to get home. It made her realize that life doesn’t revolve around her and that it’s important to help others even though it may not be what you want to do at the moment.Needless to say, the gentleman was most appreciative.
My RAK: I had a gift for a co-worker today, since she celebrates Hanukkah. I made another gift (candies, a pretty pin, and some funny sticky-note paper) and stuck it into a mailbox (eyes closed so I didn’t aim for someone specific).
I heard later this person went on and on about how wonderful it was because she was having such a miserable day after a not great weekend and it picked her up so much. I felt like such an elf!!
i can proudly say that all my christmas knitting is done — because i’m not knitting christmas gifts this year! good thing about a new baby — throw a picture in a frame and everyone’s happy. 😉 i do need to get to work on my little sister’s birthday socks, though, her birthday is 3 days after christmas.
my RAK was helping an elderly man navigate the bizarre world of the do-it-yourself postal kiosk. 🙂
This last week we were in Rapid City, SD at the truck stop there. As we were coming back through the tunnel to go back to our truck, we passed the laundry room. There was a woman in there wrestling with a comforter, trying to fold it. I stopped and offered to help her fold it and then recommended that she add a tennis ball or sneaker the next time she has to dry it as it was all lumpy and stuff. She had never heard that before and was not only thankful for the help folding it, but for the suggestion. Something that took me 30 seconds to do, made her life just a little easier.
Not sure if this counts, since it was for my own daughter.
Today she has an “away” basketball game that she went to directly from school. I can’t make it to the game, but I knew one of my co-workers was going (her husband is the coach and her daughter is on the team), so I sent a brown paper bag to my daughter through her containing a clementine, a homemade brownie, and my loopy kisses (just arrived today), with a note, “To ___, love, Mom xxoo”
Just a little something to get her through the afternoon!
My RAK was scraping the snow & ice off the car of my neighbor, who happens to be a single mother with a tiny baby. I don’t know if she has any idea who did it, but I hope it brightened her day. 🙂
I’m soooo envious of those of you who will get to go to the Spring Fling! I doubt that I’ll get to go, thanks to my husband’s school schedule & school bills, but it sounds like SO much fun! I expect lots of pictures, y’all… 😉
I spent Sunday afternoon volunteering with my synagogue’s sisterhood at a local soup kitchen. This is always rewarding. I love making people smile. This week we were giving out small toys to all the children. We told them they were Chanukah gifts and had interesting conversations with these people of different backgrounds.
What a cool way to spend the evening.
I bought a gift for our church’s Angel Tree. I’m so behind–it’s the first Christmas gift I bought this year!
I love the link for the little stockings. But it was slightly cruel because I fell in love with her knitted toys, especially the monkey, and it seems as if they are a very rare find. Her work is absolutely wonderful. As a new knitter, only in my dreams.
Ahhh, Christmas knitting. I learned to knit socks this year. A great year. I started Socks in August for each of my 3 sisters as their Christmas gifts. I lack about half of the last sock. I think I hear Chariots of Fire playing in the background everytime I break out this sock. I will finish. I unfortunately will not have time to whip up a few more pairs like I was hoping to do. I must work to support my sock habit you see…. which really interferes with my knitting time. Ha! Ha! Just kidding. With trying to run my Christmas errands on my lunch hour, my daily lunch special has been cut a little short. I love it though. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Making hand made gifts is such a joy. I have sewn for years and I am usually making something on Christmas Eve for someone. It is just part of the season for me. Crank out one more gift….
A RAK that was done “for” me was immediately returned to someone else. I was the the God-forsaken mall UGH yesterday driving in circles for a good 20 minutes looking for a parking space. A wonderfully kind elderly gentleman tapped my window… told me he was parked at the end isle and said sllllllloooooowly follow me. I did and he made sure I got that spot. It was so nice! I immediately returned the favor after I finished shopping and made a young couple very happy 🙂
Happy Holidays to all!!! I have been good at my RAK, but can I tell you that people are quite suspicious of me, and I see these weird looks that I get. In the end, tho, I do have to say that they are smiling and I guess that’s what really counts. I gave a pair of hand knitted mittens to one of my students who did not have any, and he said,”What’s these for?” which I replied, “DA!, for your cold hands,” and he actually said, “What’s it going to cost me?” I said, “Nothing but a smile,” But I was kind of annoyed, too….like my giving was sort of deflected. One of my co-workers saw me put a wrapped gift (a knitted headband)in another’s mail cubby, and I smiled and said “shhhh, secret Santa.” Well, she looked at me like I was demented. So I tried to go outside of school to do my RAK’s and gave another pair of hand knitted mittens to the Salvation Army lady along with some $ and she asked me if I really was giving her the mittens. What I’d like to know is why it is so hard to accept these small gifts. I left a box of candy for my mailman, too…and when I made cookies, I wrapped some up for one of may older neighbors, put a note that said…Kris Kringle left this for you. So I guess I did my good deeds, but I can’t believe how suspect many people are. I must be more careful next time. Take care, everyone, and watch out for icy roads. MERRY CHRISTMAS ans love, Jo
During my lunch hour today, as I was returning to work, I was the eighth or ninth car and I noticed that a car was trying to turn right into the street from the gas station on the corner. I made a mental promise to them and myself – “If no one has let you in by the time I get up there, I’m letting you in.” Sure enough, she was still there as I came up, so I paused and let her turn in. She managed to make it through the intersection before the light turned yellow, so I got to wait thru another light – but funny thing is, I didn’t mind at all 😀
While shopping with my mom yesterday we came across an elderly lady who was trying to make her way to a self-checkout line before anyone else got there. We held the line for her and she was just so happy. The smile she gave us was priceless.
I’ve been offering anyone who is behind me in line at the store the opportunity to go ahead and it’s so surprising to see their reaction. It’s almost like they can’t believe someone would offer them that.
I know it’s small, but it’s something I can do on a regular basis and I love to surprise people with it. 🙂
I try to start working on my Christmas knitting early, but it never seems to work out right. This year we got engaged and bought a house so there hasn’t been much spar time between wedding planning and fixing up the house. I sort of promised people socks for Christmas, but it seems the plans are changing to hats, mittens, scarves, and dishclothes. Next year, I will do myself a favor by keeping mum about intended presents until I am actually done! This weekend I realized that I only have 2 weeks to finish presents before I go home to Indiana. I put the proverbial petal to the metal!
My RAK was over the weekend at PetSmart. We have all had jobs that are not conducive to cold weather. (I worked at a casino as a valet so I know what it’s like to freeze your tail off!) Here is Colorado, it was very cold and windy- and snowing of course! This girl was going around all getting all the carts from the parking lot that people had left out in the freezing rain. I pulled into a spot that had 3 carts around it so instead of ignoring their existence, I got the carts and took them inside. She thanked my when I came back out.
It was small, but it warmed my heart on that chilly night.
I have decided to give up the deadline of Christmas knitting. For my two co-workers I will be giving them some homemade treats with a picture of their work in progress which I will work on until it is complete. I will complete them though and not to far into next year because I am moving next summer to the other side of the US so it has to be before then!
For my RAK I noticed that a woman was having trouble walking towards the entrance of astore with her cane. I offered assistance and she smiled at me and declined saying that she had to get used to the thing sooner or later. LOL. I have also been taking a share of our dinner to a neighbor down the street whose wife recently decided to leave. She did the cooking while they were together.
Love the stocking ornaments!