Much like last year, the heart warming part revolved around PJ & my brother.
We met up with them for lunch at DQ so they could help haul some stuff from Lee's place. Instead of running and hiding in the bathroom and being a mess of anxiety...he marched in and started talking to my family...including my brother. At lunch, he went around the group and had each of them ask him a question. My brother thought that he would be missed from the rotation, but nope, PJ directly said "Uncle Dean, do you have a question?".
I know it warmed MY heart to see them interacting and I'm pretty sure my brother was stunned.
Showing posts with label Warming the Heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warming the Heart. Show all posts
Friday, January 1, 2016
Friday, January 2, 2015
2014 Day 22 - Warming the Heart
Today we are to talk about a defining moment of Christmas for the year or witnessing (or doing) an act of kindness.
The 1st thing that came to mind was purchasing and delivering toys for Santa's Anonymous. I started doing this several years ago (at least 10...maybe more). I love going around TRU and finding gifts for babies, toddlers, girls, and entire family. GJA does the same and focuses on the boys. We easily spend more on these gifts than we do for our kiddo. I always think about how happy PJ would be to receive the gift, if he was in a family that couldn't afford to purchase gifts....every year I get all misty eyed just thinking about these poor kiddos.
The 2nd thing that came to mind for this specific year was PJ and his attempt to coexist with my brother. PJ maybe sees my brother once a year (if he's lucky), so is very scared and anxious around him. My brother is really tall, loud and present, when he's around and its pretty overwhelming for PJ. He did such a great job sitting at the table for any family function, offered to share his food with my brother and even happily posed with him for a photo. To any outsider, it would seem like it was the opposite of a win - but in our family, it was huge growth and win!
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This year, on Dec 22, I did my walk and there were tons of MEN at the mall - it was hilarious watching them wander around dazed and confused. We also went for supper for my mother's birthday.
The 1st thing that came to mind was purchasing and delivering toys for Santa's Anonymous. I started doing this several years ago (at least 10...maybe more). I love going around TRU and finding gifts for babies, toddlers, girls, and entire family. GJA does the same and focuses on the boys. We easily spend more on these gifts than we do for our kiddo. I always think about how happy PJ would be to receive the gift, if he was in a family that couldn't afford to purchase gifts....every year I get all misty eyed just thinking about these poor kiddos.
The 2nd thing that came to mind for this specific year was PJ and his attempt to coexist with my brother. PJ maybe sees my brother once a year (if he's lucky), so is very scared and anxious around him. My brother is really tall, loud and present, when he's around and its pretty overwhelming for PJ. He did such a great job sitting at the table for any family function, offered to share his food with my brother and even happily posed with him for a photo. To any outsider, it would seem like it was the opposite of a win - but in our family, it was huge growth and win!
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| PJ wanted to sit in his regular chair - even though it meant sitting by Dean |
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| Came for a photo without fuss and smiled nicely |
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| See...he can be kind of scary |
This year, on Dec 22, I did my walk and there were tons of MEN at the mall - it was hilarious watching them wander around dazed and confused. We also went for supper for my mother's birthday.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
2013 Day 22 - Warming the Heart
This is the 1st Christmas where our son has actually asked for something for Christmas - totally warms my heart that maybe he's finally joining us in this celebration. He's even SO good at it that he is like any other kiddo his age...he wants ALL the stuff he sees on TV.
What he really wants, and what we asked Santa for in his letter this year is Vanilla Powder and Hungry Hippo Game. Seems easy enough...people use Vanilla Powder on their fancy drinks, people have fancy coffee makers in their home, this should be easy peasy to purchase.....NOT!
I put the call out on facebook about where to purchase the powder, since there aren't ANY available at all the coffee shops. A few years ago, I remember them having them available to purchase for Christmas gifts...but not this year. I was immediately bombarded with ideas on where to find it and what the packaging looked like! COOL Bananas and off I went. I found it in all the places suggested and it comes in tiny envelopes. When I got home to post that I found it...my brother's girlfriend said she went out at lunch and bought some and popped it in the MAIL! O.M.G! What a wonderful, heart warming thing to do.
You'd think that was the end of it...but Oh No! My plan was to get a salt or pepper shaker to put a wee bit of the powder in, so I could limit the amount of sugar he was scarfing down and wrap it with a lovely big bow. He's always wanting to have vanilla sugar when I stop for a coffee and expects me to bring some home to him if I go to get the coffee during an errand. Well, one day I decided I WOULD bring him some home - well, instead of being happy he was extremely upset - he wanted it in the exact CONTAINER like at the coffee shop...which means NOT in a wee shaker...great...now off to find these containers.
I looked at all the shops that had cooking supplies and found one with a handle...which I bought, just in case, because the one he's used to does NOT have a handle, I thought I better keep looking so as to avoid a meltdown Christmas morning when Santa brought the wrong container. I went to my normal Second Cup and asked where they got there's...hoping they'd just sell me one...but they were all over-used BUT they did whip out their computer and hunt down what the container was called (its a dredger, by the way) and looked like amazon was the way to go - COOL! They went out of their way to help me track down a container.
BUT...its still not the end - they offered to sell me a HUGE bag of the vanilla powder sugar they use so that its the "correct" sugar! YAY - totally warms my heart that more people would help me out with this Santa gift.
Surprise, Surprise...the story isn't done! I googled and looked and with shipping, the $7 item was going to be $30 (I have no idea whey they wanted to charge so much for shipping...C.R.A.Z.Y.) I did eventually find a place in Ontario that had them for $4...so I bought 2 (just in case) and picked the 2-4 day shipping and did the dance of joy! A week later, nothing had arrived, so I e-mailed to see if it had been sent...and NOPE, not sent...so they promised to send it out that day...which they did since they sent me the shipping tracking number - sweet - expected arrival Dec 16!
Dec 16 came and went...so I looked at the tracking and it said it would arrive Dec 19...huh? I looked later in that same day and it said they had mis-routed the package and they were going to try again and the NEW arrival date was Dec 23 - EEK...getting a little CLOSE! Now I'm looking DAILY at the tracking. The parcel was bounced to pretty much every larger city in Ontario...hello people....Alberta is WEST of Ontario...there are MORE places in Canada than Ontario!
Then it says that it's new delivery date is Dec 30! O.M.G.! What is going on with this $4 item that I purchased back on Dec 4....that isn't getting here until after Christmas...I can ship a small parcel to Australia in less time! I go onto facebook to bemoan that this one gift, the one that he really REALLY wants, isn't going to happen. I consider using the one with the handle - but my friends come up with a local place that might have them (why that shop didn't show up during my googling, I'll never know)...another mentioned I should take the one with the handle and offer a trade for the used one at Second Cup...all these suggestions to help my kiddo get his Christmas wish!
I was able to find exactly what I wanted at this place in town (PHEW) and I will most definitely ship back these other 2 the minute they arrive. As of today, the tracking stopped on Dec 19 - so I have no idea where it is...on some slow boat to Alberta!
My heart was totally warmed, on several occasions this season, by several different people! WOW - I'm a very blessed girl!
What he really wants, and what we asked Santa for in his letter this year is Vanilla Powder and Hungry Hippo Game. Seems easy enough...people use Vanilla Powder on their fancy drinks, people have fancy coffee makers in their home, this should be easy peasy to purchase.....NOT!
I put the call out on facebook about where to purchase the powder, since there aren't ANY available at all the coffee shops. A few years ago, I remember them having them available to purchase for Christmas gifts...but not this year. I was immediately bombarded with ideas on where to find it and what the packaging looked like! COOL Bananas and off I went. I found it in all the places suggested and it comes in tiny envelopes. When I got home to post that I found it...my brother's girlfriend said she went out at lunch and bought some and popped it in the MAIL! O.M.G! What a wonderful, heart warming thing to do.
You'd think that was the end of it...but Oh No! My plan was to get a salt or pepper shaker to put a wee bit of the powder in, so I could limit the amount of sugar he was scarfing down and wrap it with a lovely big bow. He's always wanting to have vanilla sugar when I stop for a coffee and expects me to bring some home to him if I go to get the coffee during an errand. Well, one day I decided I WOULD bring him some home - well, instead of being happy he was extremely upset - he wanted it in the exact CONTAINER like at the coffee shop...which means NOT in a wee shaker...great...now off to find these containers.
I looked at all the shops that had cooking supplies and found one with a handle...which I bought, just in case, because the one he's used to does NOT have a handle, I thought I better keep looking so as to avoid a meltdown Christmas morning when Santa brought the wrong container. I went to my normal Second Cup and asked where they got there's...hoping they'd just sell me one...but they were all over-used BUT they did whip out their computer and hunt down what the container was called (its a dredger, by the way) and looked like amazon was the way to go - COOL! They went out of their way to help me track down a container.
BUT...its still not the end - they offered to sell me a HUGE bag of the vanilla powder sugar they use so that its the "correct" sugar! YAY - totally warms my heart that more people would help me out with this Santa gift.
Surprise, Surprise...the story isn't done! I googled and looked and with shipping, the $7 item was going to be $30 (I have no idea whey they wanted to charge so much for shipping...C.R.A.Z.Y.) I did eventually find a place in Ontario that had them for $4...so I bought 2 (just in case) and picked the 2-4 day shipping and did the dance of joy! A week later, nothing had arrived, so I e-mailed to see if it had been sent...and NOPE, not sent...so they promised to send it out that day...which they did since they sent me the shipping tracking number - sweet - expected arrival Dec 16!
Dec 16 came and went...so I looked at the tracking and it said it would arrive Dec 19...huh? I looked later in that same day and it said they had mis-routed the package and they were going to try again and the NEW arrival date was Dec 23 - EEK...getting a little CLOSE! Now I'm looking DAILY at the tracking. The parcel was bounced to pretty much every larger city in Ontario...hello people....Alberta is WEST of Ontario...there are MORE places in Canada than Ontario!
Then it says that it's new delivery date is Dec 30! O.M.G.! What is going on with this $4 item that I purchased back on Dec 4....that isn't getting here until after Christmas...I can ship a small parcel to Australia in less time! I go onto facebook to bemoan that this one gift, the one that he really REALLY wants, isn't going to happen. I consider using the one with the handle - but my friends come up with a local place that might have them (why that shop didn't show up during my googling, I'll never know)...another mentioned I should take the one with the handle and offer a trade for the used one at Second Cup...all these suggestions to help my kiddo get his Christmas wish!
I was able to find exactly what I wanted at this place in town (PHEW) and I will most definitely ship back these other 2 the minute they arrive. As of today, the tracking stopped on Dec 19 - so I have no idea where it is...on some slow boat to Alberta!
My heart was totally warmed, on several occasions this season, by several different people! WOW - I'm a very blessed girl!
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