As Christmas is upon us and our family festivities are about to begin for the next two weeks, everywhere I went I was asked that same question, “Do you have all your Christmas shopping done?”. Nope. “Are you close?”. Not at all, not even close….not a single thing done. BUT, we managed to get our holiday cards out, all 225 of them. Does that count as being on top of my game? It should.
story of my December.
I am sick again for about the 15th time this year (normally I am never sick), no shopping done, didn’t even get down to the Fashion Island Santa Claus we go to every single year. No lights up, no lists sent out, no crafty items made by the twins for all their special friends. Normally I would say I have failed, but it doesn’t feel that way.
For the first time this year – all year – my kids couldn’t think of a single material thing they wanted. Well, that might be a little lie – Peanut wants a snail and Angel still wants a Wolf as a pet (thank you Newport Beach Conservatory for your live Wolf presentation. Now my kids think because your trainer had a “pet”, they should have one too). Even though these are not ideal pets, I will still take this over them whining all year for every thing they pass by in Target. Outside of my day job my other focus has strictly been the fundraiser for ISP, blog posts, meetings with schools for ISP, businesses for sponsorships, doing media interviews and shoots, and of course still doing some easy service projects with my 4 year olds and other kids who had a desire to give back this season.
an impromptu shot after an afternoon of service acts
We are two days out and although we are still $1500 away from our goal, I am not worried. Thanks to so many amazingly generous, caring people we will be able to officially launch all of our service and Ambassador programs for kids anywhere in the world in 2015. Dylan & Delany will be coming alive this upcoming year as the mascots for our Kindness Cubs ages 3-7 through books, projects and resources they can engage with and comprehend. We will also be able to start our Ambassador programs for all other ages as well including our Kindness Bandits (ages 8-11), Jr. Ambassadors (ages 12-14), and lastly our Ambassador Leadership Program (high school level). All of these programs will have structured projects that can be done at their respective ages, hands-on, with explanations and lessons as to why these issues are important and why they are helping. And let’s not forget that they will all be structured in a way that will provide fun and excitement for our youth.
Throw Back Thursday Instagram shot of Dylan & Delany
In addition to our Ambassador Program we already have events lined up for 2015, will be soon naming our
Board of Directors and Advisors as well as our Jr. Advisory Board. We will officially kick off our partnership with
Suspended Coffees in the U.K. as well as launching a program for kids birthday parties where kindness and giving is the theme.
We couldn’t be more excited for 2015 – and we owe it all to all those that have championed what we are doing, believe in it, and have helped us get there. So many amazing people in one year and we appreciate you all.
Thank you for all of your support, have a wonderful, safe holiday and we will see you in the New Year!
If you wish to contribute a donation towards the final 2 days, click here. You know we couldn’t let the last one go so easy, right?
Happy Holidays Southern California style! Photo credit Pinterest
