The Monkey Bunch: A Month of Kindness

I've been terrible about writing lately, so this is coming a little late, but I wanted to share it. I had posted a picture a couple months ago of an Act of Kindness Advent Calendar that Cole and I were going to complete in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It was quite an adventure for us, and we found that some tasks were definitely easier to complete than others. With Cole in school 3 days a week, we sometimes had to play catch up with our items on other days and once Christmas week came, it was tough to get much done. However, we managed to complete almost every act on the list. The biggest thrill for me was that every morning Cole woke up and (after finding his elf, of course) he would ask me, "What nice thing are we going to do today?" I realized that this is a kid who already loved being kind and doing things for others, and every time I watched him completing an act of kindness and how excited and happy it made him, it made all the running around more than worth it. Below is a list of what we did:

1. Let someone go in front of you in line- we were at the library and someone got to the counter at the same time, so Cole didn't try to race in front of them. That was big for him!
2. Donate hats & mittens to a homeless shelter- we bought them and held them for a later date (see below).
3. Write your teacher a thank you note- this was one of my favorites. Cole wrote a note thanking his teacher for being allowed to bring a book into school. She was teaching the class about kindness, so Cole's note was hung up on the Kindness board in his classroom!
4. Tape coins to a vending machine for the next person to use- the Salvation Army guy didn't seem to understand why we weren't putting the money in his bucket. Oh, well. Hope someone enjoyed their soda!
5. Buy a new book for a child in need- I let Cole pick a book and then we saw a Toys for Tots box, but he asked if he could read it in the car before giving it away. I felt bad, so I let him. When we went to drop it off later, he really had a hard time letting go, but he knew it was going to a kid who needed it.
6. Send a holiday card to a service man or woman- thanks to my FB friends, we found 6 people to send cards to. I wrote a note explaining what we were doing and Cole signed his name. I hope they got there and were appreciated!
7. Set the dinner table for your family- we were at my mom's, so Gram let Cole help serve his cousins.
8. Give a water bottle & snack to a homeless person- this would have been really tough without going into the city, so we bought stuff and put it into our stash for the later trip to a shelter.
9. Make a bookmark for someone at school- another one of my favs, Cole chose to make a bookmark for his best friend Mason. They were both very excited about it!
10. Donate a coloring book & crayons to hospital ER- the admissions desk seemed very genuinely surprised which was really nice for something that only cost us a few dollars. They said they were going to take them up to pediatrics which was even better.
11. Gather up shopping carts in the parking lot- this one was hilarious as my little 4 year old pushed shopping carts across the lot and waved off the guys whose job it actually is were trying to help him.
12. Go through old clothes and toys & give to shelter- most of their toys are in storage, but we found some clothes to give away. I took all 3 kids with the clothes along with the food and hat & gloves to a shelter in Chester. A little bit scary getting in, but the people inside were very appreciative, and the kids loved doing it!
13. Call a relative and tell them "I love you"- it was tough to get someone on the phone at first, but then Cole ended up talking to 3 of his cousins and it was so sweet!
14. Do someone else's chore today- Cole chose to do Mommy's chore because he said I do the most, so he helped with the laundry.
15. Leave a treat in the mailbox for the mail carrier- hope he enjoyed our cookies!
16. Donate old towels & sheets to the local pet shelter- this was hard because we didn't have any to give, so we improvised and bought some dog toys which Cole got to pick. It was really fun (and a little nerve wracking) to take both Cole and Chloe to drop off the toys and see the animals. The dogs were a little too loud for them, but they loved the cats!
17. Buy a new toy & donate to Toys for Tots- if we do this in the future, I'll have to remember that pick up for these boxes is right around this date, so you can't find a box if you wait too long. We ended up giving them to a teacher friend who was doing a day of giving with her students.
18. Buy a hot cocoa for a Salvation Army bell ringer- it was so cute to see Cole hand over that cup, and the ringer was definitely surprised.
19. Bring in your neighbor's trash can- we only use bags on our street, but our one neighbor uses a bin for his recycling, so Cole brought that up to his door.
20. Hold the door for someone- Cole held the door for everyone this day!
21. Bring flowers to someone in a nursing home- this is one we just didn't get to do... maybe next year!
22. Tape microwave popcorn to a Red Box- I thought this one was fun, but we should have waited to see who got it, because it was gone by the time we did our food shopping!
23. Donate used books to the library or dr's office- we tried to do this but the library said our books were too old and the dr's office doesn't take them, so they went to Goodwill.
24. Give someone a hug today- it was Christmas Eve, so Cole gave lots of hugs that day!