Random Acts of Christmas Kindness

One of our most favorite Christmas traditions is RACK'ing others (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness).  This is by no means an original idea obviously, but when we first learned about this idea we knew we had to include this in our holiday traditions.  Teaching our boys the value of serving others is so important to us.  We want them to be selfless and giving and we pray that we're instilling these values in them so that they continue to serve others long after they leave the nest.  Of course, we don't limit our acts of service to only the holiday season, but I think we focus even more on it this time of year because we don't want our boys being consumed by the "gimme, gimme, gimme" spirit that seems to prevail when Christmas lists and wishes are all the kids can think about.  

This is what we'll be doing this holiday season and we hope that you will join us in serving others and paying it forward.

The boys get SO into it.  Their favorites have always been the candy cane blessings and passing out gift cards at Starbuck's.  My oldest is so very sensitive.  One year he gave a gift card to a woman walking into Starbuck's and she started crying.  She gave him the biggest hug and then they both walked over to me.  She told me that she had just been released from the hospital and didn't have any family in the area.  She was feeling so lonely and depressed and just wanted to give up.  She said this little act of kindness totally restored her faith and gave her hope.  I looked over to see my oldest with tears in his eyes and when the lady walked off he said, "That was a really good thing, right mom?  We really made her happy!  Let's give out more of these!!!"  He talks about that to this day!  A delivery guy was making his rounds the same night they were handing out the gift cards and he was so touched by what the boys were doing that he gave them a little carton of cake pops and told both of them how much he appreciated the kindness they were showing to others.  We didn't even realize he was watching them!  

I know some of these acts of kindness might not seem like a lot, but you never know what kind of person will be receiving that act of kindness and how it will affect them.

Of course, there are a MILLION different ideas for giving and serving others. I've been collecting a lot of them on my Serving Others board on Pinterest.  I'm always looking for new ways to serve and give. And while many of our activities this year do cost money, they don't have to.  There are plenty of ways to serve others that don't cost a dime.  This is just what we're choosing to do :)   

I would love to share a little backstory with you about Day 22...leave a Christmas tip for a server at a restaurant.  

One day when I was student teaching in college my car broke down.  I had NO money and was freaking out about the cost of fixing it.  I waited tables at the time and when I went to work that night (after a sweet friend let me borrow her car!), I was put on the patio.  The weather was TERRIBLE.  FREEZING cold and NO chance of me making any money that night.  I was SO upset.  Shockingly, this sweet family of 4 came and sat on the patio right underneath the heaters. They were my only table that night.  I was chatting it up with them like I normally did with all my tables and they knew my entire life story within the first 5 minutes they were seated :)  I absolutely LOVED waiting tables!!!  I figured I’d get a pretty good tip…at least $7…but I wasn’t expecting what I got.  When they handed me the cash to pay, they told me to keep the change.  The change was $100.  I started crying.  God knew EXACTLY what I needed and he provided it to me under the craziest of circumstances!  HE never fails!!!  I said thank you about a million times and even tried to give their money back!  I was sure they weren’t serious!!!  I told them they were my angels because I had NO money to fix my car and I was sure I wouldn’t make any that night.  They said that each year they give a “Christmas tip” to a server and I just happen to be the lucky recipient.  I’ll NEVER forget that as long as I live. I swore I would pay it forward when I was able.   My husband was also a server in college and we remember those days all too well.  Now we give a "Christmas tip" to a server every year during the holiday season.  I swear this is our most favorite thing to do!!!  

I hope you're able to join us in blessing others this holiday season.  And if you have any RACK ideas you do with your families this time of year I'd love to hear about them.  I'm always looking for new ways to serve!!!  And if you want a printable RACK tag to use with your RACKs this year, just click the pic below.  This is the one we'll be using with ours :)

HAPPY RACK'ing!!!!!