Happy Holidays

A huge project at the American Red Cross is Holiday Mail for Heroes. All 3 of my Red Cross Clubs participated by making holiday cards in Nov. for active and veteran military members. Just our IA clubs made about 100 cards! The cards were sent to Pitney Bowes where they are assured to be safe then to Red Cross Chapter offices to be sorted and distributed to the recipients!

Holiday Spirit does not end with the cards for my clubs though! On Friday, one of my high school clubs had a Holiday party with a local elementary school. We contacted the school's counselor asking her to pick a few students who may be in need of an extra holiday celebration! The club members brought snacks and we collected materials for gifts including pretty hats and mittens knitted by some local Red Cross volunteers. During the party we played some games (thank you Camp Shalom for giving me endless game ideas), ate some snacks, and the kids got there gifts! It was exciting to see their happy faces as they opened their gift bags to find a coloring book, crayons, sidewalk chalk, UNO cards, a little beanie baby, and a hat/mitten set! They were all so happy and grateful! They were sweet! I think the high schoolers enjoyed it too! They told me that they wished the party had been longer! It was the first year for the party for this group so hopefully they will be able to make some improvements on the party next year!

In two weeks, this Holiday spirit will continue as I serve and eat lunch at a local senior living center with my middle school club during their winter break.

Also, we just had a Holiday Volunteer/Staff Potluck! We have them every other month and they are fun and everyone brings delicious dishes! This week I was sitting enjoying my overflowing plate of food and chatting with the volunteers around me and my high school boss appeared with her husband! They had recently completed disaster volunteer training as well as responded to their first fire! It was so fun to catch up with her as well as to see people who would be great volunteers eagerly tell me about their recent successes! Their excitement was kind of contagious.

My Christmas Decorations! Snowflakes, Garland, and Santa!

Tomorrow, my little sissy is going to be my Sunday school helper! We are having a Christmas Party!