You've Been RACK'ed! 12/13/11

Saying "No", for me, is one of the hardest things to do. What makes it even harder is when I'm put on the spot or when it comes to those because-I-feel-like-I-can't-even-though-I-rather moments. "Yes!" is my first response because the reasoning for otherwise just isn't on the tip of my tongue. Or because I wouldn't consider any other answer...I would do close to anything for that person because I love her and she would do the same if she were wearing the same pair of knee high boots I am. Or because, you know, it avoids a meltdown in Target.

Well...and it's not just the meltdown factor. I want to give him happiness - and if that means buying him another beyblade, then I do it. I swipe my card at the next available register and don't even think twice as I watch him smile and toss paper and plastic packaging all over the backseat and then listen to him say, "1! 2! 3! Leeeet iiiiiiittttttt Rip!" as he pulls the cord and sends it spinning all over our living room floor.

But by doing this it feeds the "gimmies". Gimmie this. Oh!...And while you're at it, gimmie that too. He expects something every time we shut off our car and walk through the automatic open doors which is neither realistic or financially possible. And at this time of year, when "Jake, what do you want for Christmas?" is nineteen of twenty questions that he gets, it fuels the gimmies even more. He wants it ALL. And now. Please. Thank you.

As his mom, I want him to grow beyond the gimmies. I want him to understand that having food in our pantry is something a huge portion of the world's population does not. And that getting a toy?...that is a privilege. No, I don't want to rob him of the excitement of sitting on Santa's lap and finding exactly what he asked him for underneath our Christmas tree on December 25. And yes, the odds that I'll give in and add something to the rotating belt at the checkout that he really doesn't need the next time we make a Target run are pretty good. But getting it through that it's better to give than receive is still do or die for me.

That's why when I saw this idea of doing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness, I went a little crazy - like left work went straight to Michael's made our list of twenty-five oh yeah we're doing this - crazy.

We made ours by using scrapbook paper, a corner rounder punch, a single hole punch, a red ink pen for writing each act of kindness on the back, and ribbon.

Our list of twenty-five random acts of kindness goes like this:

Hold the door open for someone
Let someone go in line in front of you
Return a shopping cart
Write a letter to someone who made a difference in your life
Visit/donate to an animal shelter
Pick up your toys
Bring your co-workers a treat
Call or visit someone who is sick
Sing Christmas carols at a nursing home
Donate $1
Send a handmade card to someone
Write a thank-you note
Leave something in the mailbox for the mailman
Start a piggy bank for a cause
Drop off a toy or game at a hospital or homeless shelter
Donate clothes to The Salvation Army
Put candy canes on the windshields of parked cars
Take goodie bags to school for classmates
Donate canned foods to a foodbank
Call someone (Grandma/Grandpa) just to say "I love you."
Leave treats on three neighbors' doorsteps
Leave a quarter on a vending machine
Donate a coat to Coats for Kids
Put together a box for Operation Christmas Child
Put coins in a red Salvation Army donation bucket

And Jake is doing all of them - for the most part - or is at minimum involved in the act itself (And if we're not able to do exactly one per weekday, we double or triple up on the days we can just to make sure we get all twenty-five in.); like when we returned the shopping cart, he walked along side me holding onto it, and he looked at me and said, "This is being kind, Mommy. We are serving others right?".

This past weekend when we went out to dinner with our friends on Saturday night, he took not just one beyblade but two so they could play together, and when he asked Taylor if he had a beyblade to play with at home and Taylor's answer was a no, he gave him the extra one and wouldn't have it any other way.

Now that...that...has "He's getting it! He's totally getting it!" written all over it.