The following is an entry from my daughter Carolyn's Instagram page. Chritmas is all about giving and this year, Carolyn is starting some new traditions to help foster a spirit of generosity and compassion not only in her young son but in her entire community.
𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝑒𝒻𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝒻 𝒶 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝒾𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒𝓁𝓋𝑒𝓈 — 𝐻𝑒𝓁𝑒𝓃 𝒦𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓇
Welcome to the 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 series - where each Tuesday in December we will share the ways we are embracing the spirit of giving this holiday season. This week the focus in on giving to our community.
If I’m honest, when I was trying brainstorming ideas for this series, the community week felt the most intimidating to me. I didn’t know what would be impactful enough to write about. And with a toddler, I didn’t know how much he would comprehend the concept of giving to some elusive charity. But then it hit me - sometimes even the smallest act of kindness can make someone smile, and that smile can transform a bad day into a not so bad day - and that is something that even a child can understand. So this season, I decided we could gift our community with some extra smiles and holiday cheer.
I hung some candy canes on our tree and made special little holiday packages for our neighbours. Then, Elliott and I dressed up in Santa hats and delivered our “gifts”. We chatted with the neighbours we knew and met some of the ones we didn’t. We also delighted in watching the candy canes slowly disappear from our tree.
I think what’s so special about these gifts to our community is that it teaches my son that even at two and a half years of age, he is capable of spreading joy. He got to witness first hand the happiness our little gifts brought to our neighbours, but at the same time, he also learned with our candy cane tree that we give wholeheartedly and sometimes anonymously for the benefit of others. Giving shouldn’t be motivated by wanting praise or acknowledgement, but by an intrinsic desire to serve.
No comments:
Post a Comment