The first 13 days

29 Gifts Journal


Day 1 (12/14) I received a warning about cell phone numbers being given
telemarketers and a FTC number to be taken off the list. After
confirming the number was valid and going to the website, I decide
this was a good gift to start with. I was looking forward to rekindle
contact with many that have fallen off the radar in the last year and
help to boot. It did and even though it was a false alarm it was—gift
1.

Day 2 (12/15) The wife of a member of our JustFaith class corresponds with a young man on death row. He is there for a being the driver in a crime where a person was killed. People send him white socks that he unravels and knots into cross book marks and bracelets. He brews a construction paper tea for color and then dyes his handy craft. Our member brought a number of these items to be given away and he asked that we throw a buck in the pot for more socks. I took out a $20 bill and asked my fellow facilitator for change intending to donate $10 to the cause. Instead of change he also took out a $20 bill, grabbed mine and threw both into the basket. Our third co-facilitator witnessed all of this and also threw in $20. I felt as though my intended donation doubled before my very eyes, then doubled and doubled again. Giving can be infectious—gift 2.

Day 3 (12/16) My mother called to report that the fax I had sent the previous week with the words to “I’ll be home for Christmas” was never received. She wanted them to sing Karaoke and asked me to dictate the words to her over the phone. Sounds simple, but my mother sings whatever is written down starting at the beginning each time she writes a new word and this process takes forever. It occurred to me that she really wanted to relive Christmas past and the song was only a small part. I spent the next 30 minutes dictating the lyrics—gift 3.

Day 4 (12/17) Bob T. asked for comment on his book manuscript some of us were
given to read. I was about ½ way through Jump, hadn’t yet read
beyond gift 13 in 29 Gifts and had a slow-read library book
coming due that needed to be finished. It was an honor and gift 4
to finish Bob’s book and draft a short statement. To be honest, I
made the commitment yesterday, but took action this day.

Day 5 (12/18) My daughter, Carlee, had a class Christmas party this day. I
fulfilled my obligation to provide 6 cans of icing for gingerbread houses and she schlepped them to school. Carlee likes me to come which is rare only because I am generally the only dad and it feels a little awkward. Today I surprised her with gift 5 and attended.

Day 6 (12/19) As my 6th gift, I attended a surprise birthday for a 70 year young friend. We have worked on an annual graduate gathering together and I hold a great deal of respect for her. As an ex-nun, I thought she would appreciate a donation to a home for unwed teen mothers in her name.

Day 7 (12/20) This was a day of giving. I finished my manuscript comments for my friend after giving it much thought. These things do not come
easy to me. I also wanted to make a donation to some worthy cause in honor of my quantum faith class. After all this is where I became aware of 29 Gifts and we are doing the challenge together.
I landed on a Make A Wish 3 year old that wanted to visit Disney World. After my wife and I had a discussion with our 14 year old about a “C” he brought home, it became clear that he is struggling (with teenagehood, I think) when he lost it claiming he is not smart. Later that evening, I took the rare opportunity to talk with him about his self esteem. It was a great conversation and fleeting bonding moment—gift 7.

Day 8 (12/21) My wife left early this morning and forgot her white elephant gift for her office party. She asked if I could bring it to her. It was my pleasure and my 9 year old daughter joined me. I took her to an Indian restaurant as a treat—gift 8.

Day 9 (12/22) A good friend of mine has been a primary caregiver for a close relative since early summer. It has curtailed his normally high level of activity and has been trying at best. My daughter and I stopped by Panera today and bought lunch for both he and his wife. We had a great lunch and it felt good to give them a small respite from the routine—gift 9.

Day 10 (12/23) Today’s gifts seem almost insignificant, but they were intentionally given. My daughter asked for a ride to the store to buy a gift for mom. I took her with the caveat that she accompany me on some errands. While we were out I treated her to a hotdog. Lunch out three days in a row is an extravagance even she noted. As we entered the grocery store, we donated the spare change to the Salvation Army—gift 10.

Day 11 (12/24) Everyone has a relative that is hard to live with. For me it is the brother 18 months my junior. We have always been like oil and water in every way and continue to be. However, we each make a stab to stay connected. Today, I decided to intentionally make that connection with my brother and did—gift 11.

Day 12 (12/25) Today is Christmas, a white Christmas, a windy, frigid 25 degrees in Denver. We belong to a large Methodist church that has a satellite service in a strip mall. It is a “service” service in that it is extremely relaxed, with elements of church for those that want, opportunities for those who don’t and a bottom line for all participants to make the world a better place in some small way. For instance, at the most popular prayer station lunches are made for some of Denver’s homeless. This always includes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The need is great and this effort has grown with collaboration of several churches to feed lunch to up to 100 several times each week.

For Christmas it was decided to purchase box lunches as a respite from PB & J. Someone caught wind of this and donated a pickup full of new long underwear, gloves, socks and coats to hand out as gifts. Someone else donated gift bags and a restaurant’s employees donated the box lunches. The cat’s meow was another church’s donation of sleeping bags good to 0 degrees. About 25 of us met a Civic Center Park to hand out all of this to those less fortunate. It felt great to do this and we hauled our 14 year old (not into this) son along. For a fellow that fights these things with all of his might, he always surprises me when he does participate—gift 12.

Day 13 (12/26) My daughter is learning the flute and has been struggling. Even though we purchased a software program to help, her progress has been slow. Today, I wanted to help her try different things—mostly with encouragement—to see if we could improve her performance. After several tries, she got 100% on a piece that has bested her for a while. She was ecstatic, screamed with delight and went on to the next harder piece. After only four tries, she got 100% on this one as well. She was so excited she jumped up and ran off to tell mom. Unfortunately, she forgot to remove the microphone from her collar and it broke when the cord snapped. Time—gift 13 felt especially good to give today.