On the 4th DAY of CHRISTMAS cards I give to you the joy of service. Whether it is the service of bringing someone treats, or singing carols, or sharing your smile or making someone a homemade card there is such joy in service. The two best Christmases our family has ever had were Christmases where we "gave up" giving gifts to eachother. One year in lieu of presents that we would give to eachother we gave to a family we knew would have had no Christmas. My kids were more excited to buy, and wrap and plan the Christmas for this other family than they ever had been opening there own presents. It was beyond description wonderful. Another year we were living in Houston, Texas and our oldest daughter was attending school in Utah. She had a job working at Radio Shack and had to work the day before and the day after Christmas and so could not come home. As a family we decided it was more important for us to be with her than to have presents. So the decision was made to fly out to Utah as a family and surprise her. She had NO idea we were coming. On the day of Christmas Eve we knew she was working at Radio Shack which was located in the mall. We peeked from a secure location and saw she was working the cash register which was toward the front of the store. We all carefully positioned ourselves outside the store against a railing, as the store was on the second floor of the mall. We just stood there and waited for her to notice us. We saw her glance out of the store and then go back to her customer. She then quickly glanced again and then once again before she truly realized it was us. Even though she was with a customer she could not contain her emotion and just burst into tears. Needless to say, our whole family did as well. To be honest the tears are coming again as I think about this. So I wish for each of you the joy of service, too.
I would love to hear your stories about service whether you have been the recipient or the giver. You don't need to leave a service story to be entered into the prize drawing, just any comment will do, but if you have a little time I would love to hear your stories. I know you have them.
**WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT**
We have reached 50 comments and are half way to reaching our second 50...wooohooo!!
So the drawing for the random prize package goes to................................
Desire! Desire send me your address to my email: cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com
Remember the more players we have the more chances to win! So keep telling your friends!
***GIVE AWAY INFO***
1. Anyone who leaves a comment on my blog during these 12 Days of Christmas cards will get their name in a hat for a cash or if you prefer a gift certicate prize of $25 plus some other random goodies. If you were to comment every day your name would go in the hat 12 times. I will announce the winner of December 14th.
2. I am feeling generous so there are more ways to win...Many of you know that my daughter is now serving as a missionary for our church in Paraguay. I did a drawing for those that made guesses as to where she would serve. My son now has that same desire and has put in his missionary papers. He will find out on December 11th where he will serve. It can be anywhere in the world that is open to proselyting...It could be here in the United States or across the sea. His sister is serving in Paraguay. Leave a guess as to where he is going anytime before December 11th and the person who is the closest wins. It will be the same prize as above ($25 cash or gift certicate + random goodies)
3. For every 50 comments accumulative during the 12 Days of Christmas Cards I will do a drawing for random goodies. This means that if I get 5 comments on Day One, 6 comments on Day Two...together that is 11. On the day it is a total of 50 comments from all previous days, all those names will go into a hat for the prize. If we reach 50 comments on Day 10 everyone who has left comments on day one-ten name will be eligible. If you left a comment everyday you would have your name 10 times in the hat. Every time I reach 50 comments another drawing will be held. So if I reached 50 comments on day 5 and another 50 comments on day 10...that would be two drawings. So tell your friends