Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 5

Happy day 5! It’s finally starting to feel like Christmas around here! I braved the mall to do some last minute Christmas shopping (along with half of Wilmington, apparently), we finally put up our tree, and we went downtown to eat dinner and look at lights. Between the Christmas festivities and the random acts of kindness, I am really starting to get into the Christmas spirit! On the way home from the mall today, we passed a homeless man on the side of the road. He was holding up a sign that caught my eye; it said: “Homeless, not Hopeless”. Now, I don’t know this man’s story or his situation, but I also can’t imagine being cold, hungry, lonely, or homeless ever, especially during the holidays. I knew when I saw him that I had to do something. So I pulled up to the stoplight, which was luckily red, reached into my wallet, grabbed a few dollars, handed them to my friend Christine, and told her to get out and give them to him. From what I could tell, the man seemed very thankful. His face immediately lit up, and even if just for a second, his eyes seemed a little brighter. Christine jumped back into the car before the light turned green and we pulled away just in time to hear the man yelling “Merry Christmas!” It was good to see how appreciative he was, and also really cool to see how much Christine enjoyed it. She was excited to be a part of my Christmas giving, which made me more excited too. All in all, it was a really great day. I hope it was for that man too.

In other giving news, I got another e-mail from Alyssa today. Here’s what it said:

“Pay It Forward Day 2: Pay for someone elses coffee at Starbucks. The girl behind me was so surprised. She kept asking if I was serious and kept saying "Wow. Thank you." It felt so good and made my day. Im still on a high from that.”

Since I didn't think it would be appropriate to take a picture of the homeless man, I decided to use the picture that Alyssa sent me. Yay Starbucks!