I have a friend from college who has amazing ideas.  (She will tell you she gets them from other people, but she herself is pretty amazing.)  She is the one who inspired my Christmas by December 1 project.  And now she has inspired my what-to-do-in-December-when-you’re-done-shopping-and-wrapping-gifts project.  I’ve wanted to be like her when I grow up ever since freshman year.  So I am excited to tell you about what I’ve learned from her this time . . . now that I’ve sufficiently embarrassed her . . . it’s Random Acts of Christmas Kindness (RACK) 2011!

My friend has done a great job explaining it on her blog.  The idea is that each day of December leading up to Christmas, you do something kind for someone else.  She has adorable little bags with the tasks for each day, like an advent calendar.  I’m jumping on the RACK bandwagon a little late, so I don’t have cute bags.  I have a tentative outline and a couple of specific plans for specific days, but I think most days we will just wake up and figure out what we can do to bless someone else.  And I’ll blog about it, not to be boastful, but to hopefully motivate some of you to join us in spending our December blessing others.

Our RACK 2011 project started yesterday.  On Wednesdays, my oldest child and I go to the public library to work on schoolwork while the younger two attend Bible Study Fellowship.  We get coffee and hot chocolate at the coffee shop in the lobby, and the man who works there, Daniel, is so friendly and always remembers exactly what everyone who walks in the door orders.  Yesterday, my son and I went to the library armed with the RACK cards I made, a candy cane and a $20 bill.

We gave Daniel the candy cane and wished him a merry Christmas.  Then we told him we needed his help.  (Thankfully, there was no one in line behind us.)  We gave him the cards and the $20 and told him that we wanted to pay for however many people we could with the $20 and asked him to keep our secret and give out the cards explaining why we were doing it.  He was so excited!  We sat nearby with our drinks and our schoolbooks and watched it all go down.

The first lady he treated with the money was so grateful that she paid for the person behind her in line!  That stretched our money even further!  A line formed, and people would hear that the person ahead of them had been paid for, and then they would be so surprised when it applied to them as well.  It was fun to watch.  There was one person at the end of the line that I knew was probably going to just barely miss out.  When she got to the counter, Daniel said, “I still have a handful of change here.  I can treat you to a cup of coffee.”  She gladly accepted.  I think Daniel probably helped us out a little on that one–I saw him rummaging in the tip jar afterwards.

Some other plans we have include going to the post office at lunchtime next week to hand out candy canes to customers in line and the workers, taping quarters to candy and toy machines around town, and treating a Salvation Army bell ringer.  I’m excited to work on this with my kids and show Christ’s love to others after He has lavished us with His love.