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I’ve been steadily working on my 100 Little Things list and am ready for another update! (This is the original list and this was the first update.) Here’s what I completed in October, November and December:
#65. PRAY A NOVENA. I prayed the Saint Therese novena with Pray More Novenas for a special intention at the end of September. While I didn’t receive a rose, J did bring home this holy card for me from his CCD teacher’s prize box. He had no idea I was praying the novena and didn’t even really know who she was. He said, “She just looked beautiful and I know you like flowers.” It felt like she was saying, “I got you. I’ll bring your intentions to the feet of Christ.”
#90. READ WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON AS A READ ALOUD. I read this book to the kids for school and we really loved it!
#30. REPLACE THE AMERICAN FLAG. Our poor old flag was faded and ripping. We grabbed a replacement and made the switch in minutes. So happy to get this task crossed off the list!
#35. PLANT BULBS IN THE FALL. For my birthday, I asked for something a little unconventional: I wanted 100 daffodil bulbs! My boys worked so hard to dig a new flower bed around one of our big trees. They even planted them for me too! I can’t wait to see them bloom in March or April.
#44. HAVE FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN. and #79. SEND CHRISTMAS CARDS. We decided to take our family photos ourselves this year and they actually turned out okay! I ordered my Christmas cards through Basic Invite – I worked with them last year and really liked their website and options.
#16. ORGANIZE THE EMERGENCY CLOSET. Another task that I’m so grateful to cross off the list. Ever since the Wind Storm Fiasco of 2018, we are very proactive about keeping a full emergency closet, just in case. We slowly replenished the non-perishables, batteries and bottled water and got everything in its place. One new addition this year was the investment of freeze dried meals – super pricey, but gives me peace of mind that my children won’t go hungry if we run out of other provisions. And bonus: they don’t expire for 30 years!
#80. SUPPORT THREE ETSY SHOPS. and #69. ROLL BEESWAX ADVENT CANDLES. Crossing off two tasks in one: we purchased beeswax Advent candles from Beeswax Candle Company and rolled them on December 1! A really fun memory for our family.
#78. DONATE FOOD TO THE FOOD PANTRY. We made birthday boxes.
#83. DONATE TINY GOING HOME OUTFITS TO GRANT’S GIFTS. For Giving Tuesday, we donated little preemie outfits to a wonderful organization called Grant’s Gifts. I sent them directly from Amazon because finding preemie outfits in stores turned out to be much more difficult than I expected!
#25. LEARN A NEW CARD GAME. The kids got a book about card games for Saint Nicholas day and “Doublet” was the first one we tried. Simple enough to teach the littler ones (TJ is five and got the gist quickly) and really fun.
#35. WATCH THE LOCAL CHRISTMAS PARADE. One of the highlights of December! We finally made it to our town’s Christmas parade and it didn’t disappoint!
#84. THANK THE MAILMAN. My mail carrier does so much extra heavy lifting with my Poshmark and ebay packages, so I made sure to say thank you during the Christmas season.
#70. MAKE THREE NEW KINDS OF CHRISTMAS COOKIES. So technically, I personally did not make three new kinds of cookies, but my oldest boys did, so I’m still counting it as done. They picked recipes from the back of A World of Cookies for Santa and baked them all by themselves. Two new favorites are Hermit Cookies from Canada and Pineapple Bars from Hawaii.
#22. COMPLETE A DECEMBER DAILY ALBUM. This was my second year participating in December Daily with Ali Edwards and I really enjoyed recording our Advent stories this way. I’m so pleased with how the album turned out too! Can’t wait for next year.
An organization similar to Grant's Gifts gave us a package just barely in the hospital since my son was a preemie. It was such a thoughtful pick-me-up! I definitely should take a leaf out of your book and pay it forward by donating something to them. You make me want to be better at giving more community-oriented service, rather than just to people I know.
We know a few couples who have had preemies and I just can't imagine the emotional and mental strain. Just recovering from a birth is hard enough! I was so happy to find Grant's Gifts and be able to take one little task off the list for those families. And this is silly, but it was SO fun choosing what to buy – is there anything more adorable than those teeny tiny outfits?! ha!
We've been really into card games lately! My kids have quickly learned that if they want me to stay awake, game nights are a better option than movie nights – ha!
I haven't heard of Grant's Gifts. I'll definitely check out the link. My sister just informed me that the Sisters for Life have a baby registry on Amazon – its wonderful that donating can be so simple!
Have a great day!
I have a special love for the Sisters of Life – they are some of the kindest, happiest nuns I have ever met. Thanks for letting me know about their registry, I'll check it out!
Planting bulbs was genius! That's going to be SO fun come spring!