As I was leaving work, I was bombarded with sweets galore from coworkers and parents alike. It was so nice, and I so appreciated that everybody thought of me and went out of their way to make such yummy treats for myself and other coworkers (thank you!). I was truly buried under holiday delights and I'm not supposed to eat these sugary treats for my health stuff, so I was wondering what I should do with these delicious wonders. I would never dream of throwing out someone's hard work, and I always hear my Grandma V's voice in the back of my mind telling me wasting food is a sin. That's when I remembered all the people I see on my drive home.
See, I am blessed to work in a very privileged area. But, this area is surrounded by horrible poverty- a true case of feast and famine. On my drive to work everyday, I pass countless homeless people at every stoplight and along the streets. I thought about these people that most ignore, these people who are someone's daughters and sons, that are hungry and mostly forgotten. I thought of them and of all my goodies I was given and decided to share some of the holiday cheer.
At every stoplight, about four total, I was able to pass out a few pretty seran wrap bags of treats to those who were panhandling. They looked so happy to even be acknowledged, much less to receive some great holiday snacks. One woman even had some tears in her eyes as I wished her a Merry Christmas and handed her an abundant bag, that of course rubbed off on me and I became teary eyed as well. She mouthed thank you and smiled at her new treats. This was seriously such an extremely easy thing to do to make someone's day, to make someone feel acknowledged, and to spread the Christmas cheer. I think next year we will have to think of a bigger way to do this, to reach more people.
Once I got home we started our craft night. Marshall got a special letter from his Auntie Ang yesterday that contained a note rooting him on in his twenty five day adventure, as well as a small present: a gingerbread neighbor sticker scene (thanks Auntie A!).
Marshall was so excited when I finally opened the sticker pack for him to decorate. He kept singing and smiling as he enjoyed his handy work, other times he was concentrating intensely as he carefully stuck each gumdrop and candy cane on.
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| Can't help but smile as he stuck on each sticker |
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| Having so much fun, stickers are his favorite! (Thanks Auntie Ang & Uncle Chris!) |
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| The end result of his sticker scene. He kept telling me all about it, which is why his mouth is open on the bottom picture. |
After all the sticker fun, we continued on to make homemade snow globes! We talked about the relatively recent history of snow globes and all the different ways to make them.
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| All our supplies set up and ready to go |
At the turn of the century snow globes were very expensive for the average family, so they would make their own with things from around the house. They used egg shells, glass jars, and water with little knick-knacks or pine cones and berries. So we started with an old fashion snow globe first and I hard boiled some eggs, peeled them, and let Mads use a rolling pin to crunch up the shells while I made deviled eggs for Brad to snack on when he got home.
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| Crunching up the eggshells in a ziplock bag and what I did with all the hard boiled eggs I had left |
Back on the first day of our twenty five, I used craft glue to glue some dollar store figurines to the lids of mason jars. We bought one ceramic Virgin Mary with baby Jesus at her knees in a manger and a packet of little holiday figures- one was some carolers and the other a little girl making a snowman. The little figurines were going to be too short to be seen properly so I cut some styrofoam to boost the figures up into view.
I also read that baby oil is supposed to be preferable for homemade snow globes as this keeps the 'snow' swirling longer. So I bought some baby oil to use in one of our globes, along with some glitter for a more modern feeling snow globe or two. To recap: we did one old fashion snow globe of water and egg shell, one modern with glitter and baby oil, and one mix of water and glitter.
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| Pouring baby oil into a jar, concentrating very hard and he did great about not spilling |
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| Shaking glitter generously into the jar |
Marshall had so much fun pouring, sprinkling, and squeezing everything into the jars and then enjoying his creations as he watched the 'snow' swirl. He was sad when we were all finished and there were no more to make- looks like we will have to do this again next year!
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| Finished snow globes! Top L-R: glitter & water, eggshells & water, glitter & baby oil |
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| You can see Marshall pouting out his lip in the back, sad that he doesn't get to make more |
The oil and glitter definitely has the best overall effect. Unsurprisingly, the eggshells fall too quickly and are hard to get to float. The water and glitter is alright, but for some reason the glitter tends to stick to the little figures more (as seen in above pic, middle jar). It was a lot of fun and a special learning experience.
Marshall was so proud to show Brad his creations, as soon as Brad got through the door after court, Mads was calling attention to his beautiful snow globes and sticker scene. I don't think I will ever tire of seeing 'Marshall Angelo' show such pride and excitement over his art.
The nineteenth day was a day of such diversity for me. It was a day of being able to pass on some love that was shown to me, to other people that feel forgotten. A day of seeing how hard some have it and being able to come home to my son to enjoy an unexpected gift from his Auntie and make snow globes from different eras, something so simple that we take for granted. So much of what we do during these twenty five days is such a blessing, such a unique opportunity. My family is far from wealthy financially, but we have so much wealth in other areas. Sharing some of our extra wealth, both modest monetarily and love-wise is so simple and so rewarding. I can't wait for Marshall to be able to truly understand the power of giving and how great it feels and the differences it makes. For now though, we will cuddle up on this cold night with cocoa and count our blessings. Stay warm everyone!
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