The holidays are a season for joy and laughter, togetherness and love. But it’s also a season for giving and not just to those that we love. Unfortunately, the holidays bring added stress to families who are financially struggling, loneliness to those without loved ones and sadness to those who are missing lost loved ones.
As a once struggling young mother myself, I know just how rough it can be trying to get what you can for your kids on a thinly stretched budget. So when I was presented with the opportunity to “Pay it Forward” this holiday season with the help of Kohl’s, I knew just what I wanted to do. I asked around and found a local church that knew of a young mother trying to make it on her own with two small children.
My plan involved “adopting” their family of sorts for the holidays, so I picked out age appropriate toys for the boys, some nice new pajamas and a few outfits to make their holidays bright.
I thought that it would be nice to get a little something for the mother too, so I picked up a beautiful plush throw blanket and a little foot pampering kit.
I wanted to get my kids involved, so Lil Man helped me wrap and apply the gift tags to the presents.
Once the gifts were wrapped and ready to go, my boys and I hopped into the van and we met with one of the church leaders to drop the gifts off. He was so appreciate of the help for that family as he had been praying for things to get a little easier for them.
After the service that following Sunday, he surprised the family with the gifts. He gave me a courtesy call later that week to let me know how things went. He said the mother was so thankful to me and to Kohl’s for the wonderful gifts for her family. We indeed served our mission and spread some holiday joy and I cannot express enough how much that meant to my family!
I really wanted to go above and beyond this holiday season and spread as much joy as I could. I thought of the elderly residents in nursing homes who either don’t have family, or just don’t get any visitors and it made my heart sad. I thought it would be wonderful if the kids and I could go to the nursing home, visit with the residents for a short time and give them a gift.
I called the nursing home in our town and got in touch with the Director of Activities to run some ideas by her. She thought it was a wonderful idea and gathered a list of residents and a few gift ideas for each of them. While I was out shopping for the family that I mentioned above, I picked up a few gifts for each of the nursing home residents as well. Socks were on almost every list, so I grabbed a a few sets of those, some fragrance and lotion gift packs, a few jewelry sets and an outfit for one of the ladies.
The kids and I surprised 6 nursing home residents during dinner yesterday evening with our physical gifts and the gift of our time during each short visit. It brought joy to my heart and theirs to see the look of surprise on their faces and our gifts even brought a tear to the eyes of one resident. They were all very thankful for the visit and the gifts and I feel blessed knowing that my family played just a small part in showing them a bit of joy they might not otherwise have experienced.
This little mission has meant the world to my family and has helped open my boys’ hearts even bigger. To be able to do something like this, on such a large scale, was simply amazing and has helped us to feel the true joy in this holiday season. We’ve had a few conversations and decided that we will do something like this each and every year moving forward. Whether it’s something huge like this, or even just gifting a few toys to Toys 4 Tots, we realize that every single act of giving counts to those on the receiving end.
Paying it forward and giving to others really has a way of filling the heart with joy. It doesn’t matter how large or small the gesture. I’d like to encourage each of you to “Pay it Forward” in some way this holiday season. It can be as simple as visiting the elderly, volunteering, donating a meal or even passing out a Christmas card. If you have the means, a simple gift donation or basket of food would surely be appreciated. I’ve also seen stories of people paying for gas or groceries for the person behind them in line! There are so many amazing things that you can do when you open your heart!
What ideas do you have to give back to those in your community?