The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year. The world becomes filled with Christmas decorations, warm drinks, and holiday goodies. Holiday shopping becomes the favorite pastime for Americans everywhere. None of these features beats the fact that the attitude of our world changes. People are more generous, kind, and thoughtful. It is why the holiday season is known as the season of giving. With the way 2016 has turned out, it is more important now than ever before that we get into the spirit of giving.
As the holiday season begins, I encourage you to get your hearts into the spirit of giving. One easy way to give back to your community and your fellow neighbors is by completing random acts of kindness. Random Acts of Kindness are as the name says. They are random acts that can occur at anytime and puts a smile on someone's face. Here are some Random Acts of Kindness you should be putting into practice this holiday season.
Pay it forward
This Act of Kindness is probably my favorite and one of the easiest ones you can do. The way it works is you will order your food and then pull up to the drive thru window. Once you are there, you ask "How much is the order behind me?" (Unless you are willing to pay for whatever amount the order is, you will want to check and make sure the order is something your budget can handle.) Then you will pay for the person behind you, get your food, and drive away. The person behind you will pull up and find out that they don't have to pay. Hopefully, they will pass on the kindness to the next person.
This also works when you walk in to order. You would order your food, whisper to the cashier that you want to pay for the next person's meal, step to the side and wait for them to take their order, and then you step in and pay. This enables you to possibly start a conversation with that stranger and make their day in a more personal way.
Make Treats
If you love to bake holiday goodies, making treats is an easy way to show an Act of Kindness. Bake a batch of Christmas cookies and give them to a neighbor, friend, teacher, or stranger. You can also bake a batch of treats for your local firefighters and police officers. Special challenge: Bake some Christmas goodies and leave them on your step for when the UPS deliver man comes. They all work long hours in order to get all Christmas presents delivered on time.
Snow Removal
Shoveling driveways is especially kind when you have elderly neighbors. Go out and shovel your driveway and once yours is done, move on to your neighbors. Also, on average you can burn around 398 calories per hour shoveling snow.
You can also do other forms of snow removal, such as scrapping off frost on your neighbors or family members' cars before work. If it snowed while you were at work, scrape off the snow of the cars around you.
When I was in high school, a snow storm hit during school, so all of the car windows were covered in snow. I came out ready to scrape off my car to find that it had already been scraped off by one of my friends whose car was near mine. Also, sometimes when I would get to school the snow had not been removed from the parking lot yet. It made it very difficult to find out parking spots, so I decided to scrape of a many lines as I could, so my classmates would no where to park.
Candy Cane "Bomb" A Parking Lot
Candy Cane Bombing is where you go throughout a parking lot and place candy canes on the windshields of cars. Instead of finding a ticket, they would find a seasonal treat.
Country singer Brett Eldredge showed off his "bombing" skills in a video while filming the music video to "Drunk On Your Love". Instead of candy canes, he walked around and gave girls flowers. It made their days.
Leave A Note For Someone
Leave notes of encouragement around your campus. These will at least brighten one person's day and will be a great help, especially during Dead Week.
Treat Yo' Friend
You thought I was going to say "yo' self". It is good to treat yourself once in awhile, but instead of thinking of yourself, think about your co-worker, roommate, or friend that is struggling through the holiday season. For example, the last month and a half of the year are very tough on all college students. Work starts to pile up and all you want to do is ignore your responsibilities and watch ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas and The Hallmark Channel all day. Try and encourage your roommate. Buy them their favorite candy, coffee drink, or something else that makes their day. It will touch them to know that you care about them getting through finals week.
Don't let the holiday season pass you by without giving back to the community around you. The holiday season is centered around giving to others. Go out and show your community that you care and spread some Christmas cheer.
