So many adults and children think about presents, Santa and cookies when they hear the word, “Christmas.” That is not the real meaning of Christmas at all! Christmas is about celebrating the coming of Jesus into the world, and giving back to other people. To get into the spirit of Christmas we decided to have a week of service where we just gave back to the community and did nice things for people, such as carolling downtown and giving out Christmas cards to people. Here is what we did during these three awesome days:
On day one of our week of service, it was my group that was up! I didn’t plan much at all because I was sickL. In the morning we created a bunch of beautiful Christmas cards. I was excited to give my Christmas cards to people who were looking a bit sad because I love cheering people up! In the afternoon, we all walked around downtown and handed them out! I handed out 15 Christmas cards, but I sadly got three rejections from people. I was so confused as to why people wouldn’t want any Christmas cards, but then I got to thinking that some people may not celebrate Christmas at all, some people may have thought that we were handing out flyers, or some people could have not heard me right or something. It made me a little bit sad to think that people didn’t want my cards, but then I decided to not let it get to me! The people were all strangely male which may or may not mean anything. They did all look a bit scruffy though so they may have been sad or just not in the mood to receive a card. I handed a card out to one woman, and she was so excited! She looked like she really needed some Christmas cheer, so I handed her a card and she was so grateful and joyous. I loved when so many people accepted my cards and were happy to receive some cards. My absolute favourite part of this day was when we walked up to a homeless man wearing nothing but a thin tee shirt and some pants. I handed him a card and said, “Merry Christmas!” He was so happy and it just made me light up inside and out. He had a massive smile on his face and I could tell that we could’ve made a difference in his life. I feel like I connected with him really well because it seemed like I was almost doing a nice gesture for an old friend instead of a complete stranger. Those are the moments I live for; when I make someone smile. I just love that so much, and I could never be happy without making others happy. That’s just the type of person I am. My motto is, “Be a somebody who makes people feel like a somebody,” and I try to live that out. I would agree with Mel when he said that giving has no cost. I believe that you can change someone’s life positively without even having to spend a dime. You do not have to be rich or poor, you can both help people to make their lives better. Money doesn’t buy happiness, so you don’t have to buy it for anyone else. Money is really a lame thing. I mean seriously, why are we trading in paper, stuff that comes from the trees, to get things that also come from the earth? We have to pay to live, and we are wrecking our earth by doing so. A long time ago, they would trade. Everyone would be fed and have a nice place to live because everybody shared. We don’t do that anymore for some reason, and I’m not so sure that I like it. We are paying to survive! I just cannot believe that we are doing this! I mean, why can’t we just all get along and everybody has equal amounts, so that it is just fair for everyone? There would be much less fighting, no homelessness, no hunger and so much less injustices for our earth and the people and animals that live on it. The money is hurting our environment too; the factories are polluting our air and there are trees being cut down and oil being extracted for this money to be produced.
The next place where we did service was downtown (again). This time we went carolling. I had never been carolling before, but I really wanted to so this was a great chance to do so! We gave out oranges and candy canes, while in the meantime we collected money for the Friendship Inn. We set up all of our things and I was a tad nervous that we wouldn’t make any money, but within the first few minutes of our song, we had about 10 dollars! I had faith that we would raise a fair amount for the Friendship Inn. There was a man who came and got an orange from us. His skin was showing and he wore a thin shirt and sweater. I felt empathetic towards him, so we gave him an orange and a candy cane. He looked so joyous sitting on a bench near where we were singing. He seemed very happy after giving back to him, and we didn’t spend anything! I think that singing is such an awesome way to spread cheer because it makes so many people happy and a lot of people can hear it, so you aren’t missing anybody. After all, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!” The man then bent down and gave us about five dollars! I couldn’t believe that someone who could’ve spent his money buying a warmer jacket spent it on giving back to the Friendship Inn! I thought that it was such a nice gesture. He followed the saying, “Help me-help you,” because he might go to the Friendship Inn, so he is helping us help him with his food and housing. Oh man, I love giving back so much! I just think that it is so amazing and wonderful to help out other people who are struggling or just give back to people who are having a bad day. I think that helping people or doing a nice gesture for them can affect people’s lives so much! It could prevent someone from doing something wrong, or save a life. I think that it would be so awesome to be like a superhero and save a life, so I always want to give back so that that could possibly happen.
We moved on to another location and started with our long list of songs again. I personally loved giving candy canes to little kids because it always made them smile a whole lot. It was so cute and it made me feel really warm and fuzzy inside. My lips were starting to get really cold so I kind of started slurring my letters, but I don’t think that anybody could tell. My fingers were just trying to thaw out but they sadly couldn’t so I had to rely on my trusty hand warmers to do the trick and soon my fingers were prickling with warmth again! We were handing out some candy canes when a man came up to Kelsey and started talking about Christ. I thought nothing of it as we were singing songs about Jesus and everything so we just kept singing. Then the man started talking about how he wanted to kill Jewish people and that really got me scared as I am a tiny bit Jewish. I thought that that was really alarming, but I kept on singing. The guy eventually left, but I still thought that that was a very strange occurrence. We sang and sang until our cheeks were rosy and our noses were prickling. We made about one hundred dollars for the Friendship Inn! I couldn’t believe that in just one short hour we made $100! It doesn’t even take much time or effort to help your community out and we even raised so much for the Friendship Inn. I was so excited that we had a lot to give to them. When we finished singing, I realized that we probably touched a lot of hearts in these past two days. It was an amazing experience to give back to all of these people and I am so happy that we got the chance to. You never really see people doing these kind of things, but I’m positive that so many people enjoy and benefit from them. If so many people are being helped by these giving back moments, why don’t we see them very often? It is a bit strange to see people just randomly giving out cards or singing songs in modern time, but I think that they shouldn’t be strange. If these were normal things, so many more people would be happy, helped and smiling day after day. These are things that I want to see in the future, so we may as well start now! We have to be the change if we want to see it I guess. It does make a lot of sense. Maybe our actions will catch on and more and more people will be giving instead of taking.
The next day, we walked over to a senior centre. We talked to them and played games with them. I’m sure that the elderly people really enjoyed having us around because we talked to one lady and she said that we were the first student group to ever come to their care home. I thought that that was a little sad, but I was glad to be the first. She seemed like a very nice little old lady and she was a very nice person to talk to. Her stories were so good too! We walked around and talked to the elders. A lot of the people were excited for Christmas and I thought that it was very sweet. I think that elderly people are so cute and they always have a lot of interesting stories to tell us, such as how one lady owned a restaurant and how her children never wanted to work in the restaurant business. She was very chatty! Dustin was playing the piano and some of the old ladies were tapping along. We started to sing a bunch of songs and everything to make them happy, since we had such a positive turnout the other day. Some of the people started falling asleep which was really funny, but who can blame them? They need their beauty sleep! Our singing was a very nice way to add some liveliness to the care home and we sure made a lot of people happy. It was awesome to see them singing along with us. The grandmas and grandpas were smiling, we were singing and Dustin was playing the piano. It seemed like a perfect movie scene and I never wanted to leave! It felt like I was camping out at the lake standing around the fire singing songs. We sang for about fifteen to twenty minutes and then we left. I think that this was a really nice way to give back in a simple way. We even gave back to people who were so close to our own school! You can give back to so many different people in so many different ways. You can even give back to people to meet their needs! If there was a granny with a cane who was having trouble carrying her groceries, you could help her! If there was a boy who had no mittens, you could give some to him. Giving is so easy, and it can help people out so much!
In the afternoon that day, we went to St. Peter School. We were to do math sheets, computer time, charades and reading with the kids, so I was excited to be their care partners for the afternoon! We went into the teacher's classroom and met up with the grade three students. They were so small! I partnered up with two little girls. They were so cute and very nice little girls. I think that they liked me and I liked them a lot too! They reminded me of my little sisters. It made me feel like I wanted to be a teacher because I had a great experience! We did some math sheets and they understood the concepts very well! We moved on to charades and I was so excited because we always play charades in Eco! Their version of charades was a lot quieter than ours. I was a little tempted to yell out, “Tree!” or, “Snowman!” but I wanted to give the little kids a chance to guess and have fun. After charades we went to the computer lab. The kids I was with computers weren’t working so we went into the teacher's room to go on her computer. I thought about when I was really little and how I loved free time and games like decorating the virtual Christmas tree and guiding the reindeer to the houses. After computer time we went to the library to read some Christmas stories. The little girls loved looking for the hidden mouse and interpreting the drawings. I thought that they had very interesting ways of seeing the drawings that I would’ve never thought of. The kids had such innocent ways of thinking, like how the mice would probably be cold when they were hanging their stockings, and how the grandma must be good at baking Christmas gingerbread men shaped as mice. It was the end of the day so we had to leave. The girls hugged me and said goodbye, and I thought to myself that we probably made them very excited to have some visitors come and hang out with them. I had fun too! We also helped the teacher with math and all of the activities. We proved that you can easily give back to people and have fun doing it! I loved interacting with all of the little children because I never get to see any little kids besides my cousins.
I felt like I really connected with our community and a lot of other people during these days. It was a great experience to give back to the city and I feel like we really touched some hearts along the way. I feel like we got a taste of the real meaning of Christmas and it was nice to do so. Our week of service was a very good and educational way to help out the people who are struggling around us! I think that y giving back to the people surrounding us, we connected with the people who live around us and we got to see some of the struggles that exist in our area. I feel like giving back to the community gave me a new perspective; I feel like once I have given back to someone and really touched their hearts, I will never go back. I think that giving is really what Christmas and Advent should always be about and from now on I want to give back to Saskatoon a lot more because I love the feeling when I make someone smile.
Merry Christmas!
Keep smilingJ
Jasmine Thomas
On day one of our week of service, it was my group that was up! I didn’t plan much at all because I was sickL. In the morning we created a bunch of beautiful Christmas cards. I was excited to give my Christmas cards to people who were looking a bit sad because I love cheering people up! In the afternoon, we all walked around downtown and handed them out! I handed out 15 Christmas cards, but I sadly got three rejections from people. I was so confused as to why people wouldn’t want any Christmas cards, but then I got to thinking that some people may not celebrate Christmas at all, some people may have thought that we were handing out flyers, or some people could have not heard me right or something. It made me a little bit sad to think that people didn’t want my cards, but then I decided to not let it get to me! The people were all strangely male which may or may not mean anything. They did all look a bit scruffy though so they may have been sad or just not in the mood to receive a card. I handed a card out to one woman, and she was so excited! She looked like she really needed some Christmas cheer, so I handed her a card and she was so grateful and joyous. I loved when so many people accepted my cards and were happy to receive some cards. My absolute favourite part of this day was when we walked up to a homeless man wearing nothing but a thin tee shirt and some pants. I handed him a card and said, “Merry Christmas!” He was so happy and it just made me light up inside and out. He had a massive smile on his face and I could tell that we could’ve made a difference in his life. I feel like I connected with him really well because it seemed like I was almost doing a nice gesture for an old friend instead of a complete stranger. Those are the moments I live for; when I make someone smile. I just love that so much, and I could never be happy without making others happy. That’s just the type of person I am. My motto is, “Be a somebody who makes people feel like a somebody,” and I try to live that out. I would agree with Mel when he said that giving has no cost. I believe that you can change someone’s life positively without even having to spend a dime. You do not have to be rich or poor, you can both help people to make their lives better. Money doesn’t buy happiness, so you don’t have to buy it for anyone else. Money is really a lame thing. I mean seriously, why are we trading in paper, stuff that comes from the trees, to get things that also come from the earth? We have to pay to live, and we are wrecking our earth by doing so. A long time ago, they would trade. Everyone would be fed and have a nice place to live because everybody shared. We don’t do that anymore for some reason, and I’m not so sure that I like it. We are paying to survive! I just cannot believe that we are doing this! I mean, why can’t we just all get along and everybody has equal amounts, so that it is just fair for everyone? There would be much less fighting, no homelessness, no hunger and so much less injustices for our earth and the people and animals that live on it. The money is hurting our environment too; the factories are polluting our air and there are trees being cut down and oil being extracted for this money to be produced.
The next place where we did service was downtown (again). This time we went carolling. I had never been carolling before, but I really wanted to so this was a great chance to do so! We gave out oranges and candy canes, while in the meantime we collected money for the Friendship Inn. We set up all of our things and I was a tad nervous that we wouldn’t make any money, but within the first few minutes of our song, we had about 10 dollars! I had faith that we would raise a fair amount for the Friendship Inn. There was a man who came and got an orange from us. His skin was showing and he wore a thin shirt and sweater. I felt empathetic towards him, so we gave him an orange and a candy cane. He looked so joyous sitting on a bench near where we were singing. He seemed very happy after giving back to him, and we didn’t spend anything! I think that singing is such an awesome way to spread cheer because it makes so many people happy and a lot of people can hear it, so you aren’t missing anybody. After all, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!” The man then bent down and gave us about five dollars! I couldn’t believe that someone who could’ve spent his money buying a warmer jacket spent it on giving back to the Friendship Inn! I thought that it was such a nice gesture. He followed the saying, “Help me-help you,” because he might go to the Friendship Inn, so he is helping us help him with his food and housing. Oh man, I love giving back so much! I just think that it is so amazing and wonderful to help out other people who are struggling or just give back to people who are having a bad day. I think that helping people or doing a nice gesture for them can affect people’s lives so much! It could prevent someone from doing something wrong, or save a life. I think that it would be so awesome to be like a superhero and save a life, so I always want to give back so that that could possibly happen.
We moved on to another location and started with our long list of songs again. I personally loved giving candy canes to little kids because it always made them smile a whole lot. It was so cute and it made me feel really warm and fuzzy inside. My lips were starting to get really cold so I kind of started slurring my letters, but I don’t think that anybody could tell. My fingers were just trying to thaw out but they sadly couldn’t so I had to rely on my trusty hand warmers to do the trick and soon my fingers were prickling with warmth again! We were handing out some candy canes when a man came up to Kelsey and started talking about Christ. I thought nothing of it as we were singing songs about Jesus and everything so we just kept singing. Then the man started talking about how he wanted to kill Jewish people and that really got me scared as I am a tiny bit Jewish. I thought that that was really alarming, but I kept on singing. The guy eventually left, but I still thought that that was a very strange occurrence. We sang and sang until our cheeks were rosy and our noses were prickling. We made about one hundred dollars for the Friendship Inn! I couldn’t believe that in just one short hour we made $100! It doesn’t even take much time or effort to help your community out and we even raised so much for the Friendship Inn. I was so excited that we had a lot to give to them. When we finished singing, I realized that we probably touched a lot of hearts in these past two days. It was an amazing experience to give back to all of these people and I am so happy that we got the chance to. You never really see people doing these kind of things, but I’m positive that so many people enjoy and benefit from them. If so many people are being helped by these giving back moments, why don’t we see them very often? It is a bit strange to see people just randomly giving out cards or singing songs in modern time, but I think that they shouldn’t be strange. If these were normal things, so many more people would be happy, helped and smiling day after day. These are things that I want to see in the future, so we may as well start now! We have to be the change if we want to see it I guess. It does make a lot of sense. Maybe our actions will catch on and more and more people will be giving instead of taking.
The next day, we walked over to a senior centre. We talked to them and played games with them. I’m sure that the elderly people really enjoyed having us around because we talked to one lady and she said that we were the first student group to ever come to their care home. I thought that that was a little sad, but I was glad to be the first. She seemed like a very nice little old lady and she was a very nice person to talk to. Her stories were so good too! We walked around and talked to the elders. A lot of the people were excited for Christmas and I thought that it was very sweet. I think that elderly people are so cute and they always have a lot of interesting stories to tell us, such as how one lady owned a restaurant and how her children never wanted to work in the restaurant business. She was very chatty! Dustin was playing the piano and some of the old ladies were tapping along. We started to sing a bunch of songs and everything to make them happy, since we had such a positive turnout the other day. Some of the people started falling asleep which was really funny, but who can blame them? They need their beauty sleep! Our singing was a very nice way to add some liveliness to the care home and we sure made a lot of people happy. It was awesome to see them singing along with us. The grandmas and grandpas were smiling, we were singing and Dustin was playing the piano. It seemed like a perfect movie scene and I never wanted to leave! It felt like I was camping out at the lake standing around the fire singing songs. We sang for about fifteen to twenty minutes and then we left. I think that this was a really nice way to give back in a simple way. We even gave back to people who were so close to our own school! You can give back to so many different people in so many different ways. You can even give back to people to meet their needs! If there was a granny with a cane who was having trouble carrying her groceries, you could help her! If there was a boy who had no mittens, you could give some to him. Giving is so easy, and it can help people out so much!
In the afternoon that day, we went to St. Peter School. We were to do math sheets, computer time, charades and reading with the kids, so I was excited to be their care partners for the afternoon! We went into the teacher's classroom and met up with the grade three students. They were so small! I partnered up with two little girls. They were so cute and very nice little girls. I think that they liked me and I liked them a lot too! They reminded me of my little sisters. It made me feel like I wanted to be a teacher because I had a great experience! We did some math sheets and they understood the concepts very well! We moved on to charades and I was so excited because we always play charades in Eco! Their version of charades was a lot quieter than ours. I was a little tempted to yell out, “Tree!” or, “Snowman!” but I wanted to give the little kids a chance to guess and have fun. After charades we went to the computer lab. The kids I was with computers weren’t working so we went into the teacher's room to go on her computer. I thought about when I was really little and how I loved free time and games like decorating the virtual Christmas tree and guiding the reindeer to the houses. After computer time we went to the library to read some Christmas stories. The little girls loved looking for the hidden mouse and interpreting the drawings. I thought that they had very interesting ways of seeing the drawings that I would’ve never thought of. The kids had such innocent ways of thinking, like how the mice would probably be cold when they were hanging their stockings, and how the grandma must be good at baking Christmas gingerbread men shaped as mice. It was the end of the day so we had to leave. The girls hugged me and said goodbye, and I thought to myself that we probably made them very excited to have some visitors come and hang out with them. I had fun too! We also helped the teacher with math and all of the activities. We proved that you can easily give back to people and have fun doing it! I loved interacting with all of the little children because I never get to see any little kids besides my cousins.
I felt like I really connected with our community and a lot of other people during these days. It was a great experience to give back to the city and I feel like we really touched some hearts along the way. I feel like we got a taste of the real meaning of Christmas and it was nice to do so. Our week of service was a very good and educational way to help out the people who are struggling around us! I think that y giving back to the people surrounding us, we connected with the people who live around us and we got to see some of the struggles that exist in our area. I feel like giving back to the community gave me a new perspective; I feel like once I have given back to someone and really touched their hearts, I will never go back. I think that giving is really what Christmas and Advent should always be about and from now on I want to give back to Saskatoon a lot more because I love the feeling when I make someone smile.
Merry Christmas!
Keep smilingJ
Jasmine Thomas