Day 9 - Day 11

I had wanted to keep doing these daily, but life has gotten in the way a little bit so I'll break my updates for the past week down a little bit. Wish I'd done a better job at jotting some notes down for myself.

Day 9 - Friday November 27

Gave the gift of..generations/traditions/family. My dad always made 'ham spread' from leftover ham. Nothing complicated, just finely chopped ham with some mayonaise, chopped onion and celery can be added if you like. Well, I made this and shared some with my daughter, and let her know about my dad making it. My dad passed shortly after my wedding, so he didn't live to see any of his grandchildren, but I try to make sure the kids know at least a little bit about him.

Day 10 - Saturday November 28

Gave the gift of time/charity. My son and I started the day (along with another parent and her 2 children) representing the Cub Scouts and Salvation Army by ringing the bell in front of Wal Mart's for 2 hours. It was a cold morning, but the Scouts were singing, and friendly, calling out Merry Cristmas to everyone on their way into Wal Mart, and thanking those who donated. We really had a good time. Still don't know how much we raised, but people were generous. I also took the time to put a dollar into the can, a small donation, but it's intended as a symbol for my son to the fact that we can give, and that even though we only gave $1, combined with others the amount becomes far greater. A lesson I try to enforce with him whenever I get the chance.

Later in the day when I went food shopping, there was someone collecting for the Salvation Army in front of the supermarket and I placed a dollar in his can as well. Based on my morning experience I know that it really feels good to know that you're doing good by being there and encouraging by others.

Day 11 - Sunday November 29

More tradition giving, this one a new tradition started within our family. We held our slightly delayed 'Charlie Brown Thanksgiving', enjoying a not so healthy dinner similar to that prepared by Snoopy and Charlie Brown in the holiday special. We would have done this as a 'lunchtime snack' on Thanksgiving day, but Thanksgiving dinner was held a little early in the day, so we held it off a couple days. A silly but fun tradition.

Unknown:

Sometime over the weekend we got a call that my mother-in-law needed help because her freezer had lost power. Rushed over and gave the gift of time by helping her shuffle everything out of that freezer into other freezers and refrigerators.

Also gave some additional cooking/food preperation time with the kids during one or two meals over the weekend.

Safe travels!

Paul