25 Easy Acts of Christmas Kindness

December 26, 2012

Christmas may be over, but we wanted to take a moment to stop and reflect on this year's Advent Acts of Kindness. Some acts were small, some a bit larger, but in all of them we tried to fulfill the purpose of Micah 6:8: 

"No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God." (NLT)


Quite honestly, Christmas has never felt as real and as perfect as it did this year. It wasn't our own actions that we find admirable. In the grand scheme of things, they were quite small. But it was the way in which we saw God move through the Acts and the Acts of others that was truly inspiring.

We hope our list inspires you to continue your own acts of kindness throughout the year as we, too, plot out next year's AAK attack. In the meantime, a brief look back...

Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 1: Donnie and I went and put quarters on laundry machines at a local laundromat.


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 2: Feeding the homeless. A group served chili at Place of Hope in St. Cloud, and Tim and I also plan on adopting a family to buy Christmas presents for again this year -- I LOVE shopping for others. :) Besides adopting a family, folks can also participate in their Kids Hope Shop for Christmas. More information on this great ministry is found here.


Advents Acts of Kindness, Day 3: Sending cards to the Police Officers at the Cold Spring Police Department. Officer Tom Decker was killed in the line of duty this past Thursday. The kids at Living Way Church teamed up with us (they are doing their own AAKs) and wrote the most beautiful cards!

 

Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 4: Purchasing gifts for Jesus through World Vision. This year our kids picked a goat and two chickens, a wheelchair and emergency food for children in Africa.


 

Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 5: Cookies and a note for our mailperson to say "Thank you for all your hard work!" I had Elise color on a card (with a little help from Mom) and then we chose Christmas cookies to put in a bag together, although one or two may have ended up in our own bellies in the process. ;)



Advent Act of Kindness, Day 6: We made a donation to International Justice Mission, specifically designated to fight sex trafficking. Between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the US every year, and Minnesota is consistently in the top ten for trafficking states.


  Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 7: Sending an encouraging note to a friend this morning.

 

Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 8: Bringing a poinsettia and cookies in cute treat bags to a neighbor who recently had health problems.


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 9: The kids brought cookies to the police department and thanked them for keeping us safe. We covered it with Cling Wrap, but next time I might use these cute cellophane Christmas cookie tray bags.

  
Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 10: The kids picked out a toy for a child their age and donated it to Toys for Tots.


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 11: Bringing a meal (including cookies I was REALLY tempted to eat myself...) to a family who just had a baby boy.


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 12: Snowblowing out the neighbors.


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 13: Delivering cookies to all the neighbors.


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 14: Provided help to those hurting from today’s tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School by making a donation to Newtown Youth & Family Services. The nonprofit mental health clinic will be providing counseling for families, community members and staff involved the school shooting. According to their homepage, all donations made to the organization will benefit those affected. Their website can be found here.

Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 15: Nevaeh is a 5 year old little girl battling cancer. She loves cards and handing small toys out to other sick children at the hospital. We're sending her a card and a bag of goodies from Oriental Trading Company to share with others.


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 16: Sending a card and stickers to a little girl Jasmine's age who has Cystic Fibrosis through a wonderful website called Post Pals


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 17: Paid for the tab of the person behind us at Caribou. Nothing says "Have a Happy Monday" like coffee, right?! :)


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 18: Dropping off donations to our local animal shelter. And, of course, we visited the kitties while we where there.


 Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 19: Brought goodies and said a BIG THANK YOU to the staff at Donnie's elementary school for all their hard work and dedication to our kiddos. (And got a little teary eyed while doing it. Oh boy. What a mush these Advent Acts are making me...)


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 20: Brought gifts for Place of Hope's Adopt a Family program and Kids Hope Shop (retail therapy + giving to others = awesome).


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 21: Making Christmas presents for our Montessori Teachers.


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 22: Serving a homeless man in our community. (Donnie really wanted to help out a homeless person during our Advent Acts, and today was our (the Roehl's) last day to do something. So this morning we prayed that we could find someone we could be a blessing to. While we were out this afternoon we came across a homeless man on a street corner. After asking Donnie "what should we do?" we decided the best thing would be a hot cup of coffee, some food, and a gift card. We picked those things up, brought them to the homeless man, chatted for a few minutes, and as we were getting back in the car Donnie said, "God answered our prayers." He certainly did.)


Advent Acts of Kindness, Day 23: Leaving diapers and travel-size wipes (I like this pack of 8, so you can leave an individual, unopened pack rather than a few in a Ziploc) on a changing table at a local store. This is the first time our almost-1-year-old Noelle has gotten to "help" by donating items of her own.


Advent Act of Kindness, Day 24: Pebbles Thompson established Project Night Light -- an organization that provides children entering the foster care system with basic supplies, including jammies. Our friends at Life Assembly of God asked her to speak at their Women's Coffee -- and we are joining up with her and them today. 

And, as part of our Advent Acts of Kindness Finale - collecting donations for Bridging the Gap's Single Moms Retreat (details here) next spring - here is a portion of what we've collected so far (wow!):

3 comments

  1. Great ideas! I'll keep them in mind for next year - and maybe do one or two each month!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really like the idea of going out of your way to help others. I'm going to try and do a couple of things this month.

    P.S. That's a lot of cookies!

    ReplyDelete