December's Giving Message

It is so easy to get caught up in all the commercialism of Christmas and the receiving of "things". This year I asked the children to reflect on the things we could do together to "give" to others so that we would give back a little of all the receiving I know will be coming our way (errr a certain Auntie will be coming soon!). 

We came up with 24 things we could do that would allow us to give back a little.  We are treating it a little like an Advent Calendar of sorts.

Here are some pictures from two of our giving days. 

We made trays of cookies for staff at school who do so much for us but are not the most recognized publicly.  These were for our cafeteria team, security team, maintenance and gardeners, and accounts teams. 

They are peppermint cookies and this was my first year making them. What a treat they are, I love the little minty explosion you get from the crushed up candy canes. Here is the recipe I followed ...

The Peppermint Cookies , yes mine do not look as nice as theirs! 

I really liked that this was a learning point for the kids about giving unconditionally and not expecting thanks etc as its a "secret" gesture. 

Here is Sami and Lulu writing an anonymous message to them saying Thank You. 

We also did a huge batch of Gingerbread people and put them in a little bag with a thank you note for the bus drivers and monitors.  I followed this recipe with great success. I used molasses instead of golden syrup, oh and I only baked them for exactly 7 minutes and they were "just right".  I love that this dough can keep in the fridge for a long time or you can even freeze it. 

We have fed stray animals, "paid" it forward, been a friend to someone who needs it, donated a heap of toys to the Cubs who sold them to raise money for an orphanage.  Laith stepped out of his comfort zone and helped out on that stall selling the toys, it was a proud Mumma moment.  We have many more still to accomplish but I have to say it has been enjoyable and I do hope we can make this an Al Abri tradition. 

A final note on receiving. Last week I received this gorgeous thank you poster from my son's KG class thanking me for the tent and capes I made for their class. Awww these kids are super sweet! 

Thanks for stopping by ...