December's New Year's Resolution Experiment

So I seem to have gotten ahead of myself and one of my earlier written blog entries posted automatically on 12/4.  I wrote this before we left for vacation and timed it to post on Saturday after getting back to town.  I was sure I would've already blogged about the vacation by now and since we were going away again for the weekend (Jeff's family Hanukkah party in Pennsylvania), I was counting on it picking up the slack for me being out of town.  Ah, best laid plans.

Anyway, without further ado, let's get the show back on the road.  It is December 6th and I haven't even told you what I plan to do to finish the year with my New Year's Resolution Experiment.

Recap of November:  To take more video of the kids.  Mission completed!  November was full of video moments, many very worthy of capturing.  We had Ian's last soccer game of the season, my family coming together for the first time in 13 months and spending a week together at the beach, and Sam's big leap into a big-girl bed (No more crib!!).  It was the perfect month to focus on getting more video.  Next up is Jeff editing it all and burning DVDs for us to have.

Now announcing my final month in the 12 months of New Year's Resolution Experiments..... I am in the midst of doing at least one random act of kindness a day.  This idea stemmed from something that happened on our trip.  It was Thanksgiving day and a gorgeous color of sunny at the resort we were all staying at.  It was a our last full day together and I had big plans to spend it on the beach.  The resort had a guy whose job it was to set up beach chairs and umbrellas for the guests.  He was there all day long and pretty isolated from any food/drink/conveniences of home.  Everybody in the family started the morning on the beach with me and one by one, they all had enough and wanted inside.  I think the kids were pretty much beach and pooled out by now.  Before I knew it, 30 minutes had gone by and it was just me and my dad. We continued hanging out until it was time to go in for lunch.  I had plans to return to my spot after lunch and upon walking by the guy, I said, "I'll be back in a little while."  He said, "Going in for lunch?"  and I said yes.  I told him I would bring him back something.  Of course, all through lunch, my ENTIRE family made fun of me for saying I'd bring this guy lunch.  There were jokes of flirting with him, asking him out, wanting him, etc.  And yes, Jeff was an active part of this ribbing too.  I made a sandwich, my sister Lori put it in a bag with an apple and some chips.  I went back to the beach and gave it to him. 

I had a delightful 4 hours by myself on the beach until it was time to go back inside for a very yummy Thanksgiving dinner, made my sister's husband Ben.  Upon my departure from the beach one last time, the guy (whose name was Ryan) said to me, "Thanks for bringing me lunch.  I appreciated it very much." 

I felt great! It was worth being made fun of by my family.  And decided what could be better than to end the year doing a random act of kindness each and every day in December.  I generally try to be a kind person, (like letting the guy behind me in the grocery line go in front of me if he only has a handful of items), but I will try to take it up a notch this month.

Stay tuned for the Toppall Traveling Adventures. I am breaking up the trip into a few parts as to not completely overwhelm you (or me!) with too much info.  Hopefully you'll be entertained or just a little bit interested to get my view on it.