Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

Do you remember me? I sat upon your knee. I wrote to you with childhood fantasies. Well, I'm all grown up now and still need help somehow. I'm not a child, but my heart still can dream.So here's my lifelong wish, my grown up christmas list. Not for myself but for a world in need.
-No more lives torn apart
-That wars would never start
-And time would heal all hearts
-And everyone would have a friend
-And right would always win
-And love would never end

As children we believed the grandest sight to see was something lovely wrapped beneath our tree. But heaven only knows
that packages and bows can never heal a hurting human soul.
This is my grown up christmas list. This is my only life long wish. This is my grown up christmas list.

Love,
Brooke (age 23)

My first Christmas

just hanging out with Santa

Christmas morning was so magical and unwrapping gifts was the best!

celebrating with Emily

Christmas dance recital

dancing with Dad on Christmas morning

look at all those presents!

Christmas with Iza was one of my favorites!

Christmas 2012

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 11

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! Today was a much better day than yesterday. I went to lunch with a few friends, and got to meet one of my friends husbands! Then I exchanged Christmas presents with my best friend, watched my new Season 8 of One Tree Hill, and went out for ice cream and light looking with my parents. And NOW it's almost Christmas eve! Today for my "Random Act of Christmas Kindness" I fed some strangers parking meters. My friend and I went downtown to meet our other friend for lunch, so when we parked I fed our meter and the meter next to ours, which only had 2 minutes left. I know it's a small act, but there's nothing I hate worse than getting a parking ticket, especially a few days before Christmas!

Also, I'm going to keep trying to blog these next few days, but things might get a little crazy around here with the holidays coming up! Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope yall have the most wonderful holiday :)

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 10

Today I was not kind. Today I failed. Today I did my chores and grumbled the whole time. I didn't go out of my way to be kind to anyone. I actually cursed under my breath at other drivers on the road. So, today...today I was not kind. The only reason I'm admitting this to you all is to show that not everyday can be perfect. I'm not proud of today and I'm not proud of the fact that I didn't take time out of my day to do something nice for someone. But I'm human and I mess up and fail sometimes.

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 9

Here it comes! Christmas is just a few short days away! It's already day 9 of my Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I still am having a really hard time feeling like it’s Christmas. It could be due to the fact that it was in the 70s today or that Christmas is on the weekend, so my Dad doesn’t get any extra days off work. Maybe it’s because we haven’t driven around and looked at lights, or sat on the floor and watched a Christmas movie. Whatever it is, one thing that always gets me in the Christmas spirit is my mom’s baking. This year she’s made chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies, Christmas mints, chocolate and candy cane covered pretzel sticks, butterscotch bundles, mini cherry tarts, white chocolate covered peanut butter ritz, and some kind of bread. I’m hoping these goodies will help get me in the spirit! So for today’s random act of Christmas kindness, I decided to share some of these delicious goodies with the mailman. I fixed him up a plate with a variety of treats and wrote him a little card thanking him for all of his work. I wrapped it up and left it in the mailbox for him to get! When I went back later to check the mail, the goodies were gone, which is a good sign! I hope he’s enjoying them and that they are helping him get in the holiday spirit too!

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 8

Hello sweet readers! Today is day 8 of my “Random Acts of Christmas Kindness” and I have an extra special story behind today’s act. This morning I sent an awesome Star Wars puzzle to my special friend Aiden. I decorated the box with Christmas drawings and attached a little note. This is no ordinary puzzle though; it’s a Darth Vadar/Luke Skywalker transforming puzzle. How cool is that? Especially for a 9 year old boy. I figure a special kid needs a special puzzle. What makes Aiden so special? Here’s a little bit of his story:

The journey started out with a little 8 month old needing a liver transplant, and now it is about a little boy enjoying the second chance he was given on the day he was transplanted. With prayers, wonderful doctors, and hope for the future, we will get through the difficult days and celebrate the wonderful ones.
Meet Aiden. He is an incredible and courageous 9 year old. When Aiden was just an infant, he was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, which is a rare liver disease in which about 250 children are diagnosed each year in the US. He then underwent a Kasai procedure, which is an operation to create an open duct so that bile can brain from the liver. In this surgery, the durgeon removes the damaged ducts outside the liver and replaces them with a piece of the baby's own intestine. The new duct allows bile to pass from the liver into the intestine. It only has about a 33% chance of success to last longer than 5 tears. However, 8 years later, Aiden is beating the odds. Aiden's story is one of survival, hope, and courage. At the age of 9, he is one of the happiest children you will find. Yet he continues to struggle. He has a condition called Dysautonomia and often lands in the hospital. Luckily, Aiden has amazing support from his sweet younger brother and his caring and wonderful parents.

It seems silly to try to sum up sweet Aiden's life in a short paragraph. He has had a life full of ups and downs and is honestly one of the bravest people I know. If you want to learn more about Aiden's story, you can go to his Caringbridge site or the Crowdrise site I've created for Team Aiden. Personally, I would recommend starting by going back and reading his journal entries on his Caringbridge site. It's like the most amazing and inspiring book you'll ever read!

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 7

Less than a week until Christmas! Isn’t that crazy? Today was the 7^th day of my Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. I’ve had a Port City Java gift card in my wallet for a few days now and knew it was time to give it away. So I stopped by PCJ to get my usual decaf vanilla iced coffee and to drop off the gift card. After getting my coffee, I sat down to look for someone who could use the gift card. A few minutes later a teenage girl walked up to the counter and I knew she would probably appreciate it. As a kid, you don’t have a lot of your own money, so I figured this might be helpful for her. I know I spent a lot of time and money at PCJ when I was in high school! So on my way out the door I stopped and tapped the girl on the shoulder. I get really awkward when talking to people I don’t know, so I probably sounded like an idiot. But I handed her the gift card and said “Here ya go. Here’s a $10 gift card. Merry Christmas!” and left. The girl looked super confused (which is totally understandable) and kept looking at her friends to see if they knew what was going on. It was pretty awkward, but I guess that’s okay. As long as she enjoys it!

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 6

Happy Sunday, friends! Today was Day 7 of my Random Acts of Christmas Kindness, and it was challenging. The main challenge was that I didn’t wake up until 2pm, so that kind of cut my day short. After finally dragging myself out of the house, I went shopping and to a movie with my Dad. My plan was to give someone a $10 gift card to Port City Java, but it just never happened. When I got home I decided that today’s random act would have to be something I could do from home, since it was late. So for today, I donated money to “F Cancer”. Mozilla Firefox just launched a crazy awesome holiday campaign and is donating $25,000 to the charity that raises the most money. You can check out more about “F Cancer” and how you can help here: http://www.crowdrise.com/Give2FCancer. So I might not have left the house to do my random act of kindness today, but I did help an organization work towards their goal of raising money. And you could do the same!

I got another e-mail from Alyssa today. Here’s what she had to say:

"So for today I took Christmas cards to the Children’s Hospital and the VA Hospital. But I didn’t just buy cards and drop them off. I decorated the envelopes, wrote in all the cards, and made little inserts with inspirational quotes on them. It took me about 5 hours in total but it was more than worth it. The staff was super grateful and thanked me a million times at each place. It really made me smile. It feels so good to make other people feel good even if it’s something as small as a Christmas Card."

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!

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 4

Well, it’s day 4 of my “12 days of Christmas giving” and it didn't go exactly as planned. But I think today’s lesson is that nobody’s perfect. I woke up early this morning to drive to Greenville, NC to watch my best friend of 16 years graduate from college. It was so much fun and I’m so proud of her! But because I was traveling and busy all day, I haven’t had time to actively participate in a random act of kindness. I was feeling kind of bummed about this and the fact that I "failed". However, I then got an e-mail that made me feel much better! I received an e-mail from a girl named Alyssa informing me that she was going to participate in the Christmas giving project. She then e-mailed me to tell me she bought some toys to deliver to Toys For Tots. I’m so excited!

Okay, so maybe I didn’t directly do a random act of kindness today, but it felt good knowing that someone else was inspired to participate in these random acts! So I’m gonna say that I didn’t necessarily ‘fail’ today. I just participated in a different way. I’d like to think I supported and inspired. I spent the day supporting my friend and celebrating her graduation with her, and I helped to inspire someone else to give. So maybe it’s not perfect, and maybe it’s not exactly how I planned, but today was still a success in my book!



Here’s a picture Alyssa sent me. These are the toys she purchased to donate. THANK YOU so much, Alyssa. You are amazing and you are making someone’s life a little brighter!

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 3

Today was the 3^rd day of my “12 days of Christmas giving”. I’m not gonna lie, I had a crazy travel day and spent the majority of my day packing and unpacking and driving across the state. I wasn’t really sure where or when I was going to fit in my random act of kindness for the day, however, I seriously considered the fact that I didn’t honk or gesture at anyone while driving to be pretty kind. But really, I knew I needed to do something, so as I pulled into Wilmington I stopped at the grocer store to pick up some roses for my mom. She’s been stressed planning and shopping for Christmas and cleaning for company, so I thought some flowers might be a nice gesture. When I got home, I grabbed the bouquet, put them behind my back, and snuck in through the garage door. When she came down to meet me, I handed her the flowers and said “Merry Christmas, mom!” She seemed really surprised and happy. She immediately found a vase and cut the flowers and now they are being proudly displayed in the kitchen. It was a small gesture, but I think it was definitely the thought that counted with this one!

In other news, I'm home now and I'm so happy! I can't wait to hang out with my family and friends and get our Christmas tree! Tomorrow will be another travel day, since I'm driving up to ECU to see my best friend, Emily, graduate!

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 2

Today was day 2 of my “12 days of random acts of Christmas kindness”. (I need a shorter name for that, right?). Still excited about yesterdays giveaways, I was ready to go for today’s activity! I used the cookie dough I bought yesterday and made 16 delicious looking chocolate chip cookies. That’s right, I said delicious looking, not tasting, because I surprisingly refrained from tasting one myself. After the cookies were ready, I drew up a little Christmas card, signed it, and wrapped it with the cookies. Then I took the plate and card down to the front office building of our apartment complex and gave the cookies to my landlord. She seemed thankful, I guess. She’s not a very expressive person, so I couldn’t really tell. But she poured herself a glass of milk and unwrapped them, so I guess that’s a good sign! Even though I didn’t get much of a reaction, I still had fun delivering the cookies. I got the feeling that doesn’t happen too often in the complex, so it was nice to be able to do something different and nice. Tomorrow will be a travel day since I’m driving home to Wilmington, but hopefully I’ll find a way to pay it forward! I’ll let you know how it goes.

PS- I heard from another girl today. She made cookies to bring to her local firestation. How cool!

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness: Day 1

So today was day 1 of my “12 days of random acts of kindness”, and it was awesome. I spent a lot of my day brainstorming some ideas for the rest of the 12 days and thinking about what I would do today. I decided that for tomorrow I would bake some cookies for our landlord, so I ran out to the grocery to get the cookie dough. While waiting in the check out line, I picked up a Food Lion gift card and decided that would be my random act of kindness for the day. I got to the cashier, paid for my dough, and got $10 put on the gift card. Meanwhile, in line behind me was a cute older lady who had a good amount of groceries. Before walking away, I turned to the lady, handed her the gift card and told her Merry Christmas. Her reaction was worth more than $10, for sure. She let out a little gasp and looked totally surprised. She kept saying “Seriously? Is this for me? Are you serious?” And after I assured her that it was for her, and wished her Merry Christmas a few more times, she began to cry. I knew I had to get out of there before I started crying, so I gave her a smile and walked away. As I was walking out I could hear the cashier saying “Wow. Wow. That was so nice. I can’t believe that just happened. That was so nice.”

Lesson of the day. It seems like a little kindness can go a long way. I hope that the cahier and the lady are inspired to maybe do something good for others this holiday season. I honestly can’t wait for tomorrow and another random act of kindness!

PS- I have already heard from 2 people that they've been inspired to do the same! Can't wait to hear about it!

Ho Ho Ho, Pay It Forward.

It’s officially 12 days until Christmas! This wouldn’t be a significant amount of time if it weren’t for the obnoxiously long Christmas song chronicling the 12 days leading up to Christmas. I don’t know if it’s the weather, or the fact that I don’t have a Christmas tree yet, but I have not gotten into the holiday spirit yet this year. So I have a plan to get myself in the Christmas spirit. What are the holidays all about? Jesus and cookies and singing and family? Yes, that too. But also, the holidays are about giving. So what better way to celebrate the 12 days leading up to Christmas then to practice 12 random acts of kindness- one each day leading up to the holiday! I’m going to try to go out of my way to do something special for someone everyday, whether it be buy a gift card for the person behind me in the grocery store, or donate canned goods to the local food bank. What better way to get in the holiday spirit than to help others? So for the next 12 days, I’ll be chronicling my own 12 days of Christmas. I would encourage you to participate too, in whatever way you can! Can you imagine how much happiness could be spread if a few people took a little extra time out of their day to help someone else. So let me know if you decide to participate! Even if it’s only one day, it’s better than nothing. Merry Christmas, friends. I can’t wait to update you on my holiday adventure!

PS- If you're in the Wilmington area, and would like to help, I'll be heading to the local food bank on Monday to bring canned goods. If you would like to donate any canned items, please let me know!

Merry Christmas, from little me and big Santa!