Last year I decided that I was going to stop being a Grinch during the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas and force myself to celebrate the season. The link to the post is here, and while the picture is gone because I didn’t like it, the gist of the idea is still the same; I hated the holiday season and was a grumpy, miserable mess. I was over the idea of present-quotas, frustrated at the idea of buying things just to buy them, and had just become very disgusted with the holidays in general.

While I’d made the decision to end the cycle of angry holidays before I’d heard of RACK’ing, watching my friends perform Random Acts of Kindness helped me achieve it. There truly is no greater joy than blessing someone else for no reason at all. Here are some posts to look back at:

There is still good…

RACKing it up

You’ve probably noticed the Christmas decorations out already; it seems earlier every year, and every year, I grumble when I see it; until this year. This year, I saw it, and it reminded me of the miraculous joy of last year. I challenge you, dear readers (if y’all are still listening, I know it’s been a long time!), to dedicate this holiday season to experiencing true joy. Not going through the motions, but making the season about giving to those whose needs go unspoken or unheard. It can be as little as not taking the closest parking space you can find, or helping someone load their groceries, or as much as contacting your local Department of Social Services and asking to sponsor a foster family for Christmas. Foster families have very little money as it is, and holidays are especially hard financially. Sponsoring a foster family’s Christmas is huge, and it’s a guaranteed win. The kids have often been through very bad situations, so you not only get to bless them, but you get to bless the foster parents by showing appreciation for the true change they are making by taking in children that aren’t theirs.

I do have requests, though. Comment your ideas on random acts of kindness, either here or on the Facebook page, as well as ones that you’ve experienced or contributed. Because, to quote an old post:

“These stories are of huge acts of kindness and seemingly small ones; but to the recipient, they are the world. There is good in this world, but WE have to make it. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that good deeds, acts of kindness, inexplicable generosity, are not reserved for those deemed “worthy”. No one is too small to make it better. It doesn’t happen on its own, it is caused and is contagious. And yes, though a bit cliche, be the good that you don’t see in the world…that you want to see in the world. Then, when the next tragedy strikes, and it will, you can say “I know that there is more good than bad, because I have seen it, and I have lived it.”

So go – be the good we so desperately need to see these days. And, if you’d like, feel free to print some of these to give out.