Giving

                                            

Homemade Christmas goodies! 

I LOVE them! 

When I was younger, my mom always had a Christmas Cookie party. She'd invite all the cousins and aunts to our house for a day of making cookies, fudge, hard candy, etc. I loved this tradition! My sister, mom, and I still bake cookies together (we're going it this Sunday actually, while watching White Christmas), but I also do some baking with my little family. 

This year, like in years past, we are doing baked goods and homemade gifts for some of our friends. We just want to give something small to show our love for them during this season. 

Last night we began a new tradition that I hope continues for many years to come. We played "Santa".

So, we aren't really into all the Santa-craze, but basically we delivered gifts. While in Uganda we learned the cultural norm of just showing up at someone's house when you are thinking about them. It took us some time to get used to it because here in America we "hate just barge in" or "don't want to go uninvited". When we finally realized just how special it made us feel when someone showed up unexpectedly, we wanted to do that for others too. 

So last night we loaded up the car with gifts (more than we could deliver in one night actually). We set out on our journey to surprise our friends with their Christmas goodies. The first two families weren't home, but they got a surprise on their doorstep when they got there. The next 3 were home, which was much more fun. 

We didn't make it near as far as we had planned, but it was worth it! The 4th house we went to, they invited us in and we stayed and chatted for quite sometime. They even got out the baby toys that belong to their grandchildren for Eliyah to play with! We had a blast! The last house was the closest to us, and we stayed there for several minutes too. 

Everyone kept saying, what a pleasant surprise! We were hoping that no one felt offended that we didn't call, but it just makes you feel special to know that someone was thinking about you and cared enough to come see you! Sometimes its hard to get past the culture and live outside of what is considered "the norm" (which in this case, is calling ahead so as not to interrupt others lives).

We still have quite a few gifts to deliver, which will probably get done this afternoon since handsome hubby gets off work early. We decided that next year we will begin delivering earlier in the day.

Let me just say, we had a blast! It was so fun knowing that we were surprising people...it was like we were receiving the gifts, that's how excited we were! We did receive joy in showing people that we love them. 

We hope to show our children, through this tradition of surprise giving, that it is more fulfilling to give than to receive. 

So, if you hear friendly knock on your door, you better open up! You might be pleasantly surprised!