The 12 Days of Christmas...that kinda got out of hand (in a good way)

one h ᵉ α r t... one w ᴼ r ℓ ∂, a photo by Just Kimberlee on Flickr.

For the past couple of years, we have been slowly building toward doing a Twelve Days of Christmas sort of deal, wherein we give a small gift to (1) people in our lives who we truly appreciate, but who don't hear it nearly enough, (2) people in thankless jobs, (3) people who have had a rough run of things, or (4) people who look like they could just use a bit of kindness. We have done a few more people each year. I was determined to make that list of 12 this year and...well...it seems to have turned into many more than that.

With the smaller boys getting older and grandparents now asking them what they want for Christmas and their sudden awareness of the Toys R Us Wish Book (harumpf!), I'm becoming more and more displeased with all of the introspection I've been hearing in the getting department around here. So, I've printed up our blank calendar. We have a list of about 22 people (I think we'll take one day per week off). I believe I will try to tie the giving in with our advent calendar (Who are we going to give to today?)



This will all start tomorrow. I've tried to slide a few "easy" ones in there for those days when we are running frantically. (I hope that doesn't sound terrible!) By easy I mean requiring little prep work. For example, we are going to leave some candy canes on windshields at Wal-Mart. We are going to pick up a cup of coffee for the Salvation Army bell ringer - that sort of thing. Some others I've got on the list are having the boys make some drawings and cards and taking them to the nursing home. We are taking cookies to Jacob's football coaches. We are giving a small gift card to a kid who we know has had a rough year. I'll try to list them out like I do my Eat What You Have recipes every few days. Hopefully, I'll have some attitude transformations to share, as well!