Ring-a-ling-ling

Last year we hosted our first ever Salvation Army kettle for the day (and raised nearly $400!)  We had plans to do so this year again, but had to cancel when we realized we had conflicting plans.  Rats!  Luckily, a great friend (and fellow bell ringer from last year) decided to host her own kettle so we signed up to ring an hour on her kettle.  This particular Saturday morning started off rough (lots of fighting between me and the kids) but the three of us rallied together, rang the bell, and 60 minutes later found ourselves all smiles.  It was great!  Kindness really does breed kindness!

I was so touched by everyone's generosity.  Haley dutifully counted money in her head as it went in and we guessitmated that in our hour alone we raised almost $200 - half of which came from one family who sneakily put a $100 bill in the pot.  I could tell it wasn't a $1 when they put it in and once they walked away we peaked in the pot and saw Ben Franklin looking back at us.  You gotta love people like that.  Others gave $20's, $5's or whatever change they had in their car.  Even a taxi driver that dropped someone off (we were at Walmart) handed the kids money out his window.  To me, nothing says Christmas like watching the genuine kindness and generosity of others filling that bucket.  Our group raised nearly $1000 in that one day.    

This is definitely a tradition our family hopes to continue, and I love that two other friends hosted buckets this year after seeing ours last year.  Any individual or group can ring or host a bucket and it is super easy to set up through your local Salvation Army.   



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