If you are anything like me, this is the time of year you suddenly realize you don’t have enough flutes and glasses to properly toast in the New Year. Why add to the already burgeoning mounds of recycling or, God forbid, landfill? The cool company Refresh Glass (refreshglass.com) creates pretty and eco-efficient drinking glasses from rescued wine bottles.
Cheers!
For some people, health, time, and logistical restraints mean donating blood isn’t possible. But
blood donation isn’t the only way to support organizations like the Red Cross. Along with
financial donations, the Red Cross also accepts airline miles and credit card rewards. Easily
transferable from your computer, these sorts of donations don’t cost you anything but can still
make a difference.
Since you might not get to see your close friends much in the next few days due to family gatherings, shopping for gifts, and getting over colds, invite them over for a holiday potluck. Spending time with friends is a great pick-me-up and now is a good time to show your gratitude for the people in your life. To make it even more fun, choose a theme for your party, such as tacky Christmas sweaters.
Pay attention to the body language of others around you. If you notice someone with droopy posture or a frown, offer assistance if they need it. That someone could be having a bad day, and one person noticing could make a big difference.
Go to your local Post Office around Christmastime and pick one of the letters to Santa that they
get every year. Buy and send the gift to the child who asked for it so the gift arrives before
December 25.
Jollytologist Allen Klein shares this beautiful story:
When I was a hospice volunteer, one of the patients I was assigned to look after was an elderly woman who loved classical music. For many years, she, her son, and her daughter had season symphony tickets. But she was way too ill to use them now. Her prognosis was only a few weeks left to live.
I discussed the situation with the hospice team and how we might get her to a concert. Perhaps we could put her in a wheelchair or even on a gurney and have her at the back of the theater. But in her condition, we realized that that would not work.
Then I had an idea. I called the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, one of the leading schools in the country, and asked if they had a student who might volunteer to play something for a dying woman. A few days later, they sent over a very talented young woman, a violinist, who gave a private performance for the patient and her family.
I wasn’t at the apartment at the time but from what the daughter told me the next day, it was glorious. She said that after the intimate living room recital, her mother told her, “In all my years of going to the symphony, that was the best concert I have ever attended.”
Ring bells and help raise money for people in need. The Red Kettle Christmas Campaign enables the Salvation Army to provide food, toys and clothing to over six million people during the Christmas season and helps more than 34 million Americans recovering from all kinds of personal disasters nationwide. The Red Kettle campaign, first started in San Francisco in 1891, has traditionally been the Salvation Army’s most prominent fund-raiser.” For more information and to find out where you can volunteer, go to ringbells.org.
