Day 9

What an awesome day!!! We baked cookies yesterday with the intent to take them to the local Fire Hall and to drop off gifts for Santa's Anonymous, but we ran out of time, so we went today.

Since it's Sunday, the main office was closed, but I noticed that one of the doors was open and there were a few Firemen, so I just walked up to them and mentioned that we were dropping off some gifts for Santa's Anonymous and had some cookies that we'd like to give to them and they were so appreciative. They invited us in to see the trucks and gave us a tour and then gave the kids each a teddy bear. It was so awesome!!

I wasn't sure whether they would accept baked goods since they have no idea who we were (I had asked at the front desk years ago and they said that it wouldn't be a problem so I thought I'd give it a try). Anyway, they were happy to have them and said anytime!!

It totally made my day.

Day 8

I baked sugar cookies with my kids today and they happily decorated them. We got some new cookie cutters the other day so we were all kind of excited to make some snowflake cookies. We had a ton of cookies, so we made up three plates and brought them to three sets of friends who live on our street. It was fun because we hung out for a bit and talked at two of the places. At the third, they didn't answer the door, we left them on the doorstep and send them a text. And although I wasn't anonymous today, it was still really nice to do something for someone.

Day 7

I spent the day shopping with my mom and so I tried to think of a creative way to do a RAK. I loved the story someone told about leaving the gift card with the cashier and so I did that. I was at Toys R Us buying Christmas gifts and I gave the cashier a gift card to Second Cup and asked if she would give it to the next person who came through her till and she happily agreed. I then left the store smiling (there was no one behind me so know one will know it was me).

Day 6

It's been crazy the past few days and I keep forgetting to post! Day 6 was really simple. I had to drive downtown and so I let cars in and tried to be a courteous driver at every opportunity. I love when people wave in acknowledgement and even though many people didn't, I still smiled every time I let someone in.

Day 5

It snowed today. Like, snowed and snowed and snowed. I think we got almost half a foot in a couple of hours. It was insane!! As my RAK today, I shoveled the sidewalks for my two neighbours. It was a small gesture, but I hope they appreciated it.

Day 4

I did my RAK this morning, but then got so busy that I almost forgot to blog about it. Oops.

Today was kind of fun. I was shopping at Costco and when I was leaving, there was a cart full of stuff sitting by the food court area. People always leave their carts there while they are buying food or eating, so I just dropped a gift card on the top of their stuff in one of the boxes. This couple was looking at me kind of funny, but oh well. I hope it was a nice surprise for them.

Day 3

I was tired of doing gift cards, or at least of leaving them on people's cars, so today, I decided to put a bit more effort into it and send some Christmas cards to some military servicepeople who are serving our country away from home this Christmas. I have a box full of extra Christmas cards that are leftover from each year. I never have the heart to throw them out, but I also never seem to use them up, so I thought it would be perfect to use them for this project.

I wrote out 5 cards and am sending them to 5 different areas being served by our military. I hope that whomever gets them likes them and they bring a smile to their faces.

Day 2 & A Cool Story

I was checking email last night when I got a really cool one from someone in Texas. She was the recipient of a RAK. Her RAK had a note on it explaining what it was all about and a link to this blog and so the recipient came to visit the blog, read and left a comment which was so cool!! The giver checked back and got to comment back to the recipient. I loved reading the back and forth and I was excited that we were able to touch someone with kindness. Check back in the comments from yesterday to read them yourself.

Today is an insanely busy day, so I wimped out and just left a gift card on someone's windshield. It's kind of small, so I really hope that they see it!!

What did you do today?

Day 1

I'm finally at my computer to post about Day 1 of the Advent RAK.

It was a really busy day and so I thought I'd pull out one of my gift cards and give it away. It wasn't as easy as just handing it to someone though. I wanted to remain anonymous so I wanted someone to just find it. I would love to see their reaction and watch them, but I decided to just walk away and know that I was hopefully putting a smile one someone's face.

I typed up a little note explaining what the gift card was for and taped it on and then simply put it under the windshield wiper of a car in a parking lot.

It wasn't huge and it wasn't Earth shattering. It was just one small gesture which will hopefully put a smile on someone's face.

I'd love to hear about what you did today!!

A List of Ideas

It all starts tomorrow and while I have these 10 coffee cards, I thought I ought to create a list of other ideas I can do. Please post your ideas too so we can all have a great list from which to choose.

• coffee card (can hand out in person or just leave on someone's windshield. I plan to write the url of this blog on it so they know what it's about)
• shovel someones driveway
• mow someone's lawn
• give someone flowers
• bake for someone
• visit a seniors residence
• write a note or card to a friend
• help someone someone struggling to carry something, carry it
• send a pizza to a local hospital (or anywhere really) reception with a note saying, "You've been RAK'd - for the reception staff" (I love this idea!! From http://www.rak.co.nz/Ideas/Individual/tabid/61/Default.aspx
• plug parking meters
• offer to babysit for a single mother or father so that they can have a break
• pay for the coffee, toll, lunch etc for the person behind you
• do a job for someone that they can't do themselves (or help them do it)
• send a card to a soldier serving overseas http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22219776/ns/business-consumer_news/t/want-send-card-soldier-heres-how/#.ULg31mdj6So give you ideas for how to send a note to a US solder and  http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/message/addresses-2-eng.asp is the link for a Canadian Soldier
• leave something on your co-workers desk
• leave a book or magazine you've read in a waiting room with a note for someone else to take it, read it and leave it somewhere else.

There are tons of cool ideas all over the Internet. Feel free to post some of your favorites. I can't wait to start this tomorrow!

An Idea and a Commitment

I was thinking today about getting chocolate for our Advent Calendar since December is coming up so quickly! As I was thinking about it, I had a bit of a brainstorm and an idea hit me.

What if instead of getting something each day leading up to Christmas, I gave something: a Random Act of Kindness (RAK). So I vowed to do one RAK for each day starting December 1 and going until December 24.

I started by going to our local coffee shop chain and buying 10 - $5 gift cards. I figure that I can always just hand one to a stranger or leave it on someone's car. I also thought I could shovel a neighbours walkway or make a cake or cookies and take it to the local firehall. There are so many small things which can put a smile on someone's face. They don't have to cost money either. I know I'd like to find a nice note in my mailbox or a phone call from a friend who had been thinking of me. The RAK can be anonymous or not; whatever works.

Then I started talking to a few friends about it and they said they'd like to do it too which I thought was really cool! I started to wonder if it could be bigger than just me and I think it can.

So, I challenge you to join me on my journey. Pledge your commitment to the project by posting a comment (I have enabled anonymous comments but Blogger might still require you to have a Google account; I'm not sure since I am so not a technical wizard as evidenced by this very simple blog).

Each day, I am going to post about what I did and I encourage you to share what you've done through the comments. I think it will be really inspiring to read about how other people are improving our world.

If you are finding this blog and idea after December 1, just join whenever and jump in. Anything we do, even if it's just for a few days, is awesome. Remember, these do not have to be huge things! Just do something nice for someone else. If you miss a day, then don't worry, just pick up on the following day or if you want, do an extra RAK one day. It's not a competition or meant to make you feel guilty, but rather, the opposite and a chance to make a difference.

So, I hope you will join me and I look forward to reading what you do.