When I was little – we had a box counting down the days to Christmas. Every day after school – we would run up to the house and open the little box. CANDY! That’s all we would do. Eat the candy and replace the box at the top of the tower – waiting for tomorrow!

At MOPS this year – we made little advent calendars – with boxes. I wanted to do more than just count down the days with candy – which Fitzy doesn’t really get much of anyway. My friend Ericka shared her #25daysofgiving list with me and I added some of our own!

I want to keep Christmas sweet and simple. I want it to be about giving – NOT getting. I want Fitzy to learn this at a very young age. I can’t wait till he is old enough to suggest his own acts of kindess! I can’t wait to hear what comes from his sweet little heart.

I’ll give you a rundown of what we did for #25daysofgiving –

1. CHRISTMAS CARDS TO SOLDIERS – one of my clients is a soldier. He just so happened to be gone this Christmas – so we sent him a little love – in a card!

2. FOOD TO LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTER – we dropped off a laundry basket and some treats for the animals!

3. DONATE ITEMS TO PREGNANCY CENTERS – this is the one I didn’t get to do. I contacted someone but still haven’t heard back from her. So I took the items I was going to donate to the GOODWILL instead.

4. ANGEL TREE – we picked a little girl from the angel tree at wal*mart and shopped for her!

5. DONATE CRAYONS AND COLORING BOOKS TO HOSPITAL – this was fun! Fitzy took the coloring books and crayons into the office and gave them to the secretaries!

6. DONATE ITEMS TO GOODWILL – I’ve been trying to purge our house and lives of all things we don’t need. It’s coming along. I took a few boxes down to the GOODWILL store in town!

7. DONATE ITEMS TO HOMELESS SHELTER – We have SO many blankets and pillows that have lost some of their oomph. I collected them and gave them to the homeless shelter in town.

8. HOT CHOCOLATE TO BELL RINGERS – this one fell on a not so chilly night – but the bell ringer was very appreciative!

9. CHRISTMAS CARDS TO STRANGERS WITH $ IN THEM – this was AWESOME! We put $10 in 5 different Christmas cards. One of my favorites. We gave the first card to a couple who tracked us down and told us they didn’t need it. I told them to pay it forward – it was in their hands now. The second was to an older man who let us cross the aisle in front of him. I think – we can’t remember – the third card was given to a younger girl with two little babies standing in line. The fourth to a woman and her little boy. The fifth to a college girl standing in line. She opened the card and screamed! Jared thought I put more than the $10 in! It was beautiful and humbling to do this for strangers!

10. HOT CHOCOLATE TO CROSSING GUARDS – unfortunately – crossing guards are out when Fitzy is napping – so this one is still on my TO DO list someday while I’m out running errands and can catch one!

11. COOKIES AND COFFEE TO POST OFFICE – I took some chocolate covered cherries to the USPS office to thank them for all they do every day. They were a little perplexed!

12. COOKIES AND COFFEE TO MAIL DELIVERY – we left a box of chocolate covered cherries and ribbon candy for our mail lady – we got a nice card the next day!

13. COOKIES TO GARBAGE MEN – we wrapped a box of chocolate covered cherries and ribbon candy in a bow with a Christmas card – hoping they would know it wasn’t garbage!

14. PAY FOR SOMEONES MEAL – we went to Papa V’s for dinner and three men held the door for us. I said to Jared – let’s pick them. I grabbed their waitress and gave her $40 telling her that we were going to pay for their meal and anything that was left was her tip. We ran into the owners of the restaurant (we go to church with them) and Fitzy ended up hanging out at their table quite a bit. We saw another friend there and chatted – keeping us at the restaurant while our guys were still at their table. The waitress came out and thanked them for coming and told them that their bill was taken care of. WHAT! But who? She leaned in and said – the table next to you. They turned around – shocked. We told them that it was #25daysofgiving for Christmas. They told us they were in town picking up one of their son’s from college – from North Carolina. It meant so much to them! When we left the restaurant – our bill had been taken care of too!

15. QUARTERS AT LAUNDROMAT – I left $10 in quarters in the machines at the laundromat in town – I got quite the array of looks!

16. QUARTERS AT GUMBALL MACHINES – we don’t have gumball machines at wal*mart anymore – so I left $10 in quarters at the vending machines with the little stuffed animals. When I came back out of wal*mart – Jared told me that an older man had taken all the quarters and played the machines. ALL OF THEM. I said – maybe THAT is what he needed today!

17. FOOD PANTRY – we donated some cupboard items to the food pantry in town!

18. COUPONS AT GAS PUMPS – we had some coupons for free things at SHEETZ – so we taped them to the gas pumps!

19. COOKIES FOR NEIGHBORS – Jared’s aunt and uncle are our down-the-road neighbors – so I left them a container of Christmas goodies!

20. GOODIES TO POLICE OFFICERS – I ended up dropping off a box of chocolate covered cherries at the State Police office.

21. VOLUNTEER AT NURSING HOME – my friend Missy brought her little guys along with me for this one! I had made some pictures for Fitzy to hand out – the residents really liked that! We walked around and let the little guys say hello and work their magic!

22. LEAVE A TIP THAT EQUALS THE BILL – our waitress that night was pretty cranky – but we left her a $30 tip anyway! Maybe she really needed it!

23. COOKIES TO LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENT – thankfully someone was there when I knocked on the door!

24. LEAVE QUARTERS AT CAR WASH – we decided to skip this one – the car wash didn’t seem to give-to-the-needy – so we left $10 in quarters at the laundromat again!

25. $ AT GAS PUMPS – I took sticky notes and attached them to $5 bills we taped to the gas pumps at SHEETZ. On them I wrote – if you need it – take it – if you don’t – leave it – bless – be blessed.

We are going to do something very similar to this every December – and July – #25daysofChristmasinJuly – wanna join?