Gifts that anyone can give ….

1. Make a batch of cookies with your kids for the holidays
2. Clean out your pantry, take the canned goods you probably are not going to use and donate them to a food bank
3. Take photos or a video of your kids and send it to their grandparents
4. Rent a family movie from Redbox for $.99 and watch it with your children
5. Rent a grown-up movie and watch it with your partner, and actually cuddle up with them on the sofa
6. Go watch ice skaters, or look at holiday lights with your family and hold your child’s hand
7. When you hug someone be present and hug them just a little longer than normal
8. Donate some time to a shelter or project benefitting homeless or less fortunate people
9. Call that family member you always mean to call but never do
10. Get a small plant, a plate of cookies, a holiday card for the neighbors across the street (even if you never really liked them)
11. Get the kids to make a Christmas ornament for the tree, and keep it for years to come.
12. Take your kids Christmas caroling
13. Help someone who could use a helping hand load their car with groceries, or other purchases.
14. Give a dollar to the Salvation Army pot even if you think their bell ringing is annoying.
15. Let someone with a child get ahead of you in the checkout line.
16. Invite someone you know who lives alone to visit at your home for a cup of coffee
17. Write your teens a special card to let them know that you love them
18. Call your mother and listen to her tell you about the weather, or whatever
19. Give an empathetic ear to someone in pain who is just looking for someone to listen.
20. Give a call or email to someone who has recently lost someone they love from death, divorce, a child who moved away from home, etc.
21. Say a heart felt prayer to those who are in greater need than you are.
22. Read a story to a young child.
23. Offer the time to babysit a friends children so he or she can have a little time themselves
24. Offer some kind words, or a genuine greeting to someone in your office that usually goes unnoticed
25. Help at a animal shelter for a day and show love to the animals seeking a home
26. Give a batch of cookies to your local police or fire station, the first responders in your area
27. Invite someone you know whose loved one is in the military and is overseas to your home and show the warmth of friendship and support
28. Clean out your closet and donate the clothes you never wear to Salvation Amy or another charity.
29. Dedicate a day to give a smile and a holiday greeting to everyone you encounter and watch their response.
30. Visit someone you know who is in the hospital or shut in
31. Call the sibling who you do not communicate with and wish them well
32. Thank your parents, if for no other reason than for just being your parents, good or bad. They are just people trying to get through life
33. Share a cup of coffee with a good friend who you rarely get to visit with
34. Teach your children a song that you can sing together
35. Encourage your children to create some holiday artwork and hang it on the refrigerator to display
36. Have your children clean their closets and gather the toys they no longer play with and donate those that are not broken to children or a children’s hospital for other children to enjoy
37. Let your spouse sleep in and handle a few of their regular household chores
38. Tell your secretary thank you for their assistance for the past year
39. Help decorate an elderly person’s house, or even their front door for the holidays.
40. Help a person who is hosting a holiday dinner get things ready, so they may have time to perhaps rest or enjoy the event as well.
41. Give $5 to a homeless person unconditionally and without judgement
42. Invite someone who has no one to share the holidays with to your home to share the holiday with you
43. Offer your home as a location for a pot luck holiday party
44. Ask a neighbor if they could use a helping hand with something and assist them
45. Donate pet food to a local pet shelter
46. Drive someone home who has too much to drink at a holiday party
47. Say yes to your children to something you would usually say no to because you are too tired or busy.
48. Pump gas for an older person so they do not have to stand in the cold.
49. Tell someone you love them, and mean it.
50. Say a heart felt prayer of gratitude to God, which ever God you believe in.