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•Bake
cookies for a nursing home’s afternoon snack.
•Visit
places in the community you’ve never been.
•Donate
toys to Toys for Tots. (Call
623-1164.)
•Decorate
a tree in the country for the birds.
•Volunteer
with Home Meals. (Call BSU
623-3294.)
•Put
money in the Salvation Army kettle.
•Attend
a holiday concert.
•Be
pleasant while waiting in the check-out line.
•Take
an elderly friend to lunch.
•Use
recycled paper to wrap gifts.
•Organize
a group of friends to go caroling.
•Send
a holiday card to someone with whom you’ve had a disagreement.
•Buy
consumable gifts such as fruit baskets or jams and jellies.
•Shop
church bazaars for hand made gifts.
•Send
a holiday arrangement to a shut-in.
•Invite
a single person to join your family gatherings.
•Walk
through the neighborhood to look at holiday lights up close.
•Invite
friends over to watch classic Christmas movies you’ve rented.
•Plan
a cookie-decorating event with a family member or friend.
•Take
a basket of cookies or breads to the neighborhood police or fire station.
•Call
a nursing home and get the names of five people who don’t often receive
mail. Send each one a card.
•Take
extra time off work while the children are out of school for the holidays.
•Offer
to care for someone’s pet while the person or family is away for the holidays.
•Serve
as a chauffeur or errand-runner for someone who doesn’t have time to get
to the library, grocery store, pharmacy, or post office.
•Return
your grocery cart to the store along with another one.
•Adopt
a needy family and provide food for a traditional holiday dinner and toys
for children. (Call Salvation
Army 624-5826.)
•Donate
warm clothing and toiletries to charity.
•Organize
a group to clean up trash at park.
•Donate
books on tape to a nursing home.
•Call
a long-distance relative or friend and don’t worry about the money.
•Rake
the leaves from the yard of an elderly neighbor. Don’t forget to shovel snow when it’s time.
•Volunteer
to help a friend clean windows.
•Take
a busy friend’s car in for a wash and wax.
•Say
please and thank you as many times as possible, please. Thanks.
•Take
lots of pictures.
•Make
a memory album for a brother or sister.
•Call
a friend and announce you’re delivering a cooked entree for one of his
or her midweek meals.
•Help
someone who’s carrying an armful to his or her car.
•Volunteer
to baby-sit for a mother while she shops for toys.
•Rent
a cabin at a state park and invite a few friends for a weekend getaway.
•Make
coupons to give single moms for free babysitting.
•Instead
of exchanging in the family, donate the money to a charity or a relief
effort.
•Send
cards to those who have lost loved ones this year.
•Share
an easy, tried-and-true recipe with a busy friend.
•Make
loaves of quick breads to give to the letter carrier, the newspaper delivery
person, teachers at school and Sunday School, security guards where you
work, and your hair stylist.
•Treat
teen-aged daughters, your mother, wife or friend to a manicure and pedicure.
•Pay
for a cleaning service for a chronically ill friend.
•Buy
a meal for a homeless person.
•Buy
stamps for someone who likes to write letters.
•Subscribe
to a magazine for a shut-in.
•Call
a school and see whether there’s a child who needs new boots for winter.
•Open
a savings account for a child instead of buying toys.
•Send
accolades to the chef when you’ve enjoyed a special restaurant dinner.
•Give
a homemade gift.
•Make
ornaments for your tree and to give to a friend.
•Make
new family traditions.
•Make
a family cookbook.
•Volunteer
to shop for someone who’s homebound.
•Make
holiday favors for hospital trays.
•Send
flowers to someone who will be hospitalized on Christmas Day.
•Share
your holiday dinner with a family who has a loved one in the hospital.
•Make
a sourdough starter for homemade bread and share it (along with a baked
loaf).
•Brush
snow off other people’s windshields.
•Spread
peanut butter on pine cones and dip them in bird seed, then put them in
the windowsill to feed the birds.
•Clean
your room without being asked.
•Leave
a surprise on the doorstep of someone who has to work Christmas Day.
•Car
pool to the mall so you only take up one parking space.
•Instead
of buying gifts, write a poem and give it to a friend or loved one.
•Start
now by performing one act of kindness each week until Christmas.
Share what you did at the holiday dinner or keep it a secret and
tell no one.
•Use
your children’s (or a child’s) artwork to wrap gifts. (Most wrapping paper isn’t recyclable.)
•Make
coupons for family members or friends: (good for...cleaning dishes, free
hug, making bed, fixing dinner, washing car, etc.)
•Take
a walk on a cold night all bundled up in layers
•Make
a snow angel.
•Buy
yourself a CD or tape of holiday music.
*Adapted
from: Thompson, Sharon, “Simple Gifts,” Lexington Herald Leader, November
28, 1998, C 9-10.
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