Random Acts of Christmas Kindness

I am a creature that craves peace.

Despite the true meaning of Christmas, this season is not very peaceful. There is SO. MUCH. STUFF. Decorations, Christmas church clothes, family pictures, parties, shopping, wrapping, the ever constant anxiety that you have missed a great online sale for that one thing your teenage had to have because your toddlers stuck you to a chair for eight hours with the force of their clingy love and a giant helping of boogers...

Stuff like that.

Even if you know and understand and appreciate the reason for the season...it is so incredibly hard to carve out peace in the middle of all this STUFF.

So we started R.A.C.K. last year - Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. We put a giant, green, cardboard tree on our kitchen door with 24 'tags' and we did an act of kindness every day leading up to Christmas. Well, we did 24 acts. Some days were big-fat-zero days and some days were jolly-elves-on-a-mission days of multiple acts of kindness. We plotted on how to surprise people. We did secret acts and giggled between ourselves. We tried things that sounded corny and silly, but ended up being so sincere and heartfelt. We spent time as a family talking about those less fortunate and our role in our world to help them.

We gained perspective, we connected with people, and we found some peace.

We are doing it again. And we are ramping it up. Because that is how we roll. Bigger and better, onward and upward. How can we top ourselves from last year...we are a competitive folk.

We are asking for help from our friends and family with certain things that we want to collect and donate. Anyone that can help would be so appreciated. We plan on spending time running around as a family picking up donations so we will come get whatever you pull together or you can always drop items off on our front porch. I will try not to be overly obnoxious but plan on seeing this a lot in my Facebook feed. Not because we want the world to know, but because we hope you will join us. This year especially, our world needs a little peace.

These are a few of the Acts of Kindness we are preparing for and the items we need if you can help.

Filling Hope Totes for the homeless shelter:

Warm socks
Toothpaste/brushes
Body wash
Antibac liquid soap
Lip balm
Shaving cream/razors
Tampons
Shampoo and Conditioner
Brush/Comb
Deodorant
Tissues
Body Lotion
Antibacterial Wipes

Donating Food to the Food Pantry:

Any unperishable food items
Any paper products/personal hygiene items

Donating Winterwear:

Old coats, gloves, scarves, hats

Sending school supplies to the Homework House in Avalon Village, Detroit:

Unsharpened pencils, unused school supplies


THANK YOU.

Post Election Grief

I didn't post this the morning after the election. I didn't want to give in to my emotional, gut wrenching first reaction and end up in political war posts all over Facebook. I wanted to have my personal reaction without all of social media weighing in. With that said, my reaction hasn't changed much.

If you are my friend and you voted for Trump - you are still my friend. If you are my friend and didn't vote - you are still my friend. Being my friend is not contingent on your political strategy or opinion. If you are my friend and voted for Trump - I do NOT think you are a racist, sexist, entitled pussy grabber. I DO think you VOTED for a racist, sexist, entitled pussy grabber. And that is a pretty key difference.

However...

You CHOSE to put this man in office. For whatever reason. And now I have to explain this man and talk about this man for four more years to my children. And this makes me sad. I feel legitimate grief and frustration and bewilderment over this choice that you made. And I am not going to just 'get over it' or 'give Trump a chance' because of this choice you made. I am not going to change my opinion of this man just because he won an election. I still think he is a racist, sexist, entitled pussy grabber. All the Trump supporters jeering about us Hillary supporters being 'sore losers' is such nonsense. This was not a typical election. I am not having a typical let down because my candidate lost. I am heart sick for our country. And heart sick that people chose to reward the kind of man he is. And I am worried about all the racist, sexist, bullies that were just emboldened by your choice and now feel free to spew that kind of hatred across our country. That was, and is, the driving force behind my opinion. I have many political, experience, issue driven reasons why I voted for Hillary over Trump - but at the end of the day...

This man is a bully.

He mocked and slandered minorities, the disabled, and women.

Not once, or twice...but over and over and over again.

He repeatedly engages in behavior that I don't allow my toddlers to demonstrate.

That bears repeating...

I GIVE MY 4 YEAR OLD TIME OUT FOR BEHAVIOR THAT OUR PRESIDENT ELECT INDULGES IN ROUTINELY.

And how do I explain that to my older kids? My toddlers hopefully won't know anything about this man until he is no longer relevant. But my big kids? They know. They watched the debates, watched this man's abhorrent behavior. They have a foot in the Hispanic community and likely know people way more affected by this than our fairly safe, middle class, mostly white family. My girls? How do I talk about mean girl behavior and inclusion and doing the right thing with my high school daughters - and then they watch our country reward that behavior? How do I talk to them about deserving and demanding respect for themselves- and our President elect is on video talking about grabbing pussy? How much more difficult did this election make their coming of age? How do I explain that you shouldn't get ahead by putting other people down?

Tell them the old parent standby? Do as I say, not as I do?

Except...

Do as I say, not as our country just did.