I am having a really hard time getting into the Christmas Spirit, truth be told I wish it all would just go by as fast as it can. I know it isn’t the right way to feel and it absolutely is not what Emma would have wanted. She loved Christmas time, she loved doing things for others and she loved giving gifts.
I am challenging myself STARTING SATURDAY December 12 to do 13 Days of Christmas Giving to honor my beautiful Emma and kick my butt into gear. I am going to PRINT MY KINDNESS cards and for the next thirteen days I am going to do something nice for a total stranger. It can be something as simple as mowing a neighbors lawn to paying for someone’s meal or picking a family in need and help them have a Merry Christmas. I don’t know what kind of crazy ideas will come to me but I promise it will be fun and hopefully uplifting. Please follow me for the next 13 days which will end on Christmas Eve!
Day 4- Gingerbread Houses and Christmas Carols for the Seniors!
Tiff and the kids from church delivered the gingerbread houses and sang Christmas Carols for a group of new friends at the senior center. #ForOurEmma #13DayChristmasChallenge I am a day behind reporting but I have something fun from today I will post in a bit! Join me or just follow along!
Day 3- Helped pay for dinner for some families, one was wearing this sweatshirt.
We went out to eat tonight to this amazing burger place, it was just one of those nights we didn’t feel like cooking. I made this really nice lady wait extra long in line which happens quite often when you have a big family. We weren’t able to deliver the gingerbread houses tonight because some of our kids had coughs and I didn’t want to go visit the seniors and get them sick. As a result I hadn’t done my challenge yet today, so I thought I would buy their dinner. I handed her one of Emma’s cards and paid for her food. she immediately said thank you so much and gave me a big hug. I went to my table feeling really good about what it just happened and my kids asked me why that lady hugged me. I hadn’t told them about the 13 day challenge yet because it’s still really hard for me to talk about and I didn’t want to put any pressure on them. So we explained what we were doing and right as we finish this family walked in and a girl about Emmas age was wearing the sweatshirt in this picture. My kids immediately noticed this family in the sweatshirt and could tell that these parents had lost their son and the sister had lost her brother. As we were leaving I handed them a gift card with one of Emma’s cards and said that I had read her sweatshirt and that Emma wanted her to have this gift. The girl was surprised and said thank you so much, I didn’t realize it was her mom sitting next to her but I knew exactly who it was it’s soon as she started crying. I looked back and I could see your eyes, I know that feeling and I know that look and my heart just broke for her. I don’t know why anyone has to feel this pain, is the worst thing in the world. I hope that we made their day just a little bit brighter.
DAY 2- Gingerbread Cheer for Friends, Family and Seniors!
This is Day 2 of the Emma’s Christmas Giving Challenge. We had an open house for people to come over and make Gingerbread Houses. It is one of our favorite Christmas traditions, Tiffany puts out an amazing spread and pre makes over 100 houses with some help from the kids and her mom this year. We take our finished houses to senior communities and visit “grandmas and grandpas” then leave them when some holiday cheer. We will do that tomorrow night.
DAY 1- Paige & her Basketball Team
Paige has a basketball tournament this weekend, she saw this sign and asked what it was about. There is a girl at this school that is battling cancer and they are selling shirts to help support her family. I love that she gets what it is all about.
I would love it if you all would join me and help build Christmas Spirit in your area in Emma’s memory and SHARE YOUR STORY on the A Gift From Emma website. I am also going to add some incentive to get you guys to join me in my 13 Days of Christmas Giving Challenge. Each day I will pick someone to win a small gift, but that is not where the real incentive comes in, at the end of 13 days I am going to pick a family and donate $250 to their local food panty or library in their family’s name.
Please join me and share the Christmas Spirit, even if you don’t start on day one, jump on board. All you have to do is set your mind to it and then PRINT YOUR CARDS! Then, SHARE YOUR STORY!
Today I went and saw my Emma. Emma is still beautiful and however difficult it is me to see her like that, I am still grateful for the blessing of such a good person in my life. I can’t tell you how bad it hurts to see her lying there, to know that we are going to miss all of the amazing things she was going to do and be. She was so good, I can’t believe she is gone, I can’t believe it is real.
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