Christmas Inspires Feelings of Good Will Towards Others - Let's Act on That
Often the papers are filled with heart-warming stories at Christmas. It isn't just because readers want to hear those, but because more acts of kindness happen at this time of year. I'd like to hear about acts of Christmas kindness that you've received or kindnesses that you've instigated. There are several comment sections below for this. Share with us your stories.
Working on the List, A Vintage Christmas Card by pjwuebker
Working on the List, A Vintage Christmas Card by pjwuebker
Contents at a Glance
- Are People Kinder at Christmas Time?
- Tell Us about an Act of Christmas Kindne...
- A Secret Gift by Ted Gup
- Meet Ted Gup Who Wrote The Simple Gift
- Links to More on the Topic of Christmas...
- Gold "PASS IT ON" Coins
- Tell Us about an Act of Christmas Kindne...
- A Random Acts of Kindness Calendar to He...
- If Teacups Could Talk
Are People Kinder at Christmas Time?
Santas Christmas List - Ornament by LyndasLines
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Tell Us about an Act of Christmas Kindness You Received or Saw
It can be a small or large kindness
Keep reading, there's more below the guestbook.
Kindness is like snow by susiehk
It beautifies everything that it covers.
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Morality
Dec 28, 2011 @ 5:41 pm | delete
- Thank you for providing us with an opportunity to share Christmas stories (and for sharing your own). I don't have such an extraordinary Christmas story, but I do have an article you might like: www.noomii.com/blog/3458-50-ways-to-give-a-list-worth-putting-on-your-fridge
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wordstock Dec 17, 2011 @ 11:18 am | delete
- Sometimes the acts by stranger are really angels in disguise. Last year when we had very little money for food, we received an unexpected blessing. My husband was working at what he thought was a very demeaning job. An older lady walked down a hill waving her arms to get his attention. He went to meet her hoping she wouldn't fall. When he reached her, she handed him some money. He tried to ask why but she just waved him away and headed back up the hill. He shoved the money in his pocket and continued working. It was until the end of the day that he discovered that she had given him $80,00. He stopped at the store on the way home and brought home goodies that we hadn't had in a while. We were blessed and we thank the kind lady everyday.
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bames24
Dec 13, 2011 @ 9:56 am | delete
- The best and most priceless of gifts is kindness... :)
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gottaloveit
Dec 12, 2011 @ 9:17 am | delete
- I've been in the rehab hospital with Mom for a month now. The nicest Christmas present I can remember are the smiles I get back from the elders here when I help them with daily life. Too sweet. I get back much more than I give.
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ChrissLJ Dec 10, 2011 @ 11:30 pm | delete
- When I was in the 7th grade, my best friend's father had a massive stroke while 2,000 miles away from home. He was not expected to live long enough for my friend's mother to fly out to be with him... let alone become well enough to make it home. They didn't have health insurance or extra money in the bank. A friend of the family lived near where my friend's father was hospitalized. Not only did she give the mother a free place to sleep and eat, but she also loaned her the car for a month so she could be with her husband in ICU. Meanwhile back home, the mother's work was unable to do anything for her. BUT all her coworkers got together and had a community fundraiser that raised several hundred dollars and enough groceries to feed the children during the time they were without their mom. My friend's father ended up living about 15 more years.
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kerryhrabstock
Dec 10, 2011 @ 10:19 pm | delete
- I've heard several stories of big tippers at the Waffle House and other always-open restaurants at Xmas. That makes me tip very well, especially around the holiday.
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gottaloveit
Sep 13, 2011 @ 5:39 pm | delete
- I seem to get a lot more doors opened for me and mom during the holiday season.
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poutine
Sep 12, 2011 @ 8:46 am | delete
- love that quote on "kindness is like snow".
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nancycarol
Dec 31, 2010 @ 5:05 pm | delete
- People are prone to show more kindness at Christmastime...why can't they be this way all year? When I was little, we were very poor one Christmas...the Salvation Army gave us a turkey, trimmings and even a small gift for me. I've never forgotten that kindness, and donate to the Salvation Army several times a year.
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d-artist Dec 12, 2010 @ 10:11 am | delete
- Hi Virginia a Squidoo Greeter here! great lens and subject...because of my Faith for me kindness should be a daily thing, not just for the Holidays...even if it is just a smile to a stranger..it's a habit people can get into, just like the habit of not being kind...it's a choice.
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WildFacesGallery
Dec 12, 2010 @ 12:29 am | delete
- Too many to mention. I'm not sure if it's so common because both growing up and for the past 15 years I've lived in small towns where everyone knows everyone and there's always someone to help out when needed.
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vallain Dec 11, 2010 @ 3:53 pm | delete
- My family received a random act of kindness when I was in 5th grade. My father was hospitalized for 6 months and it looked like a bleak Christmas for the five children. Then someone left a box on our porch with a turkey and other Christmas foods for us so we had a good holiday meal. My teacher brought the classroom Christmas tree to our house after school closed for the holiday break. Thanks to these acts of kindness, we had some Christmas cheer in our home.
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A Secret Gift by Ted Gup
Christmas kindness revealed 80 years later
A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness--and a Trove of Letters--Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression
Sam Stone's grandson discovered Sam had been an anonymous donor of ten dollar checks to some of the most needy people in Canton, Ohio in 1933. This is a true detective story. This is the exactly right time to tell the story.
Imagine for a moment working hard, paying bills promptly, and putting money regularly into the savings bank. Then suddenly you lost your job. There was no unemployment insurance. You go to the bank and find it closed with all your savings gone. There is no FDIC. You try to sell your belongings. Sometimes this will feed the family for a while. Once your furniture is gone, and your house repossessed, and you are living as a whole family without heat or a bed in a room somewhere. Five dollars sometimes gave people enough hope to save them from suicide. Sometimes it meant an orange and a pair of shoes.
Ted Gup found descendants of the people his grand father had helped. He even found one still living who could remember the help. He followed up every one of his grandfather's checks, a tremendous task in itself.
But equally important he learned that his generous life affirming grandfather was an illegal alien who loved his adopted country with fear and passion.
This is an elegant book that bring to life early 20th century history. Read it please, and be glad for our safety nets no matter how inadequate they may be. It was once so much worse. (review by S.R. Schnur on Amazon)
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Meet Ted Gup Who Wrote The Simple Gift
One person can make a difference
curated content from YouTube
Links to More on the Topic of Christmas Kindness
- The Secret Gift
- Ancestry.com shares a glimpse into Gup's book, The Secret Gift. It intrigues me and I want to read the whole book now.
Gold "PASS IT ON" Coins
Tell Us about an Act of Christmas Kindness That You've Done
Don't be modest. Give us ideas that inspire us to help others.
THINK KIND THOUGHTS by HOLIDAYCHEERS
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traveller27
Dec 11, 2011 @ 9:10 am | delete
- Great topic - blessed by a travelling angel.
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- Last weekend, I witnessed a restaurant manager verbally and mentally harass one of his employees. It was so bad that customers waiting for their food said they would never be back and at least one person left before ordering. That night, I went back to the restaurant and spoke to the night shift manager about the situation. (Apparently the harassment was a fairly common occurrence.) Then I got the contact information for the local big wigs. It took a few hours of my time, but I made sure the store manager and regional manager knew 1) how inappropriate it is for a manager to treat employees that way and 2) how wonderful the (harassed) employee is every time I'm there. The night manager thanked me because he said so many people come in there and yell or are rude and forget the people behind the counter are people, too. He's never had a customer come back and stick up for the employees.
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kerryhrabstock
Dec 10, 2011 @ 10:22 pm | delete
- I've helped the person in front of me in the checkout line. If they're paying cash, I'll tell them to put it away and take out my cash. This is hard to do if someone is in the middle of a credit card purchase. Gotta be quick then.
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gottaloveit
Sep 13, 2011 @ 5:40 pm | delete
- I like to pay the toll for the person behind me at a toll booth but, I have seen the toll booth operator still charge them!
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kerryhrabstock
Dec 10, 2011 @ 10:23 pm | delete
- Maybe what you've seen is that person paying for the next person. Wouldn't that be something!
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A Random Acts of Kindness Calendar to Help You Spread Kindness All Year Long
If Teacups Could Talk
Book available from Amazon
If Teacups Could Talk: Sharing a Cup of Kindness with Treasured Friends
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What the bloggers are saying about kindness at Christmas time
- Terrebonne General employee honored for kindness
- She decided to take her family to TGMC, pick up her patient from the rehabilitation department and bring them all to the hospital's chapel to celebrate Christmas Mass. Dupre's act of kindness helped the patient through a difficult holiday at the ...
- Rare kindness helped hundreds
- "I remember as a child coming to the Christmas table and finding it full of people I didn't know," recalled Christopher Spicer, one of her four children. "But it wasn't a surprise. Our house was a safe haven for people in need my mother had met - the ...
- Share stories about kind acts
- Many years ago, after a summer house fire, our family celebrated Christmas in a rented house, with few possessions. We came home from my parents' house to find seven gift cards taped up on the wall, all signed "from Santa." We had our suspicions, ...
- Sister Irenaeus Chekouras, 1922-2012
- But she also had a profound sense of kindness, compassion and justice. She was a woman ahead of her time." Sister Chekouras, 90, president of St. Xavier from 1972 to 1982 and a member of the Sisters of Mercy for 69 years, died Tuesday, May 22, ...
A Cup of Christmas Tea
I heard this story used as a dramatic reading at the Rotary Club for Christmas. What a delight it was. The brief story tells of someone grudgingly visiting an elderly relative at Christmas. It makes you think of all the opportunities for kindness that you have missed acting on.
Chicken Soup for Christmas
Heart warming stories of Christmas kindness
Kindness is Contagious Cross-Stitch
Create Your Own Christmas Jar
Anything More to Say about Random Acts of Christmas Kindness?
I hope you have been inspired to spread kindness
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- I am doing a lens on random acts of kindness. It won't be as good as yours so I am adding yours as a featured lens. Angel blessed.
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RenaissanceWoman2010
Dec 16, 2011 @ 9:38 pm | delete
- Kindness really is contagious. A little kindness sure goes a long way. Thank you for this warm-hearted focus on the best gifts of the season. Truly appreciated.
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Comfortdoc
Dec 11, 2011 @ 3:44 am | delete
- Here's hoping there will be lots of Random Acts of Christmas Kindness this year.
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juliavm
Dec 11, 2011 @ 1:56 am | delete
- Random acts of kindness should be done all year long, and not just Christmas. I believe strongly in Karma, because it keeps happening to me over and over again. Be kind and generous to people, whether you think they need it or not, and the world will be kind to you.
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- Unfortunately, I think for most the Christmas Kindness is a facade. We all say "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas" this time of year, but most also take out frustration of long lines, money woes, bad weather, etc on others. I dread going to the stores this time of year, not because of the longer waits, but because of parents screaming at their children that they should behaving... even after hours of shopping.... and disgruntled customers who yell at employees... who have zero control over the situation.
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gottaloveit
Sep 13, 2011 @ 5:41 pm | delete
- I think everyone should practice random acts of kindness. Just makes you feel good about yourself.
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awakeningwellness
Dec 12, 2010 @ 12:27 pm | delete
- I think if we are kind we will receive kindness in return. Wouldn't it be great if the news focused more on reporting acts of kindness rather than always focusing on acts of cruelty!
Happy Holidays and thanks for spreading holiday cheer! :)
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WildFacesGallery
Dec 12, 2010 @ 12:30 am | delete
- A great idea for a lens. Plus it helps spread a little holiday cheer. :)
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