12 Days of Service

Inspired by Sister Tanner's parenting class and the Christmas season, our family decided to do "12 Days of Service" in the month of December.

We had big plans, but with me going out of town for a week and many community services already FULL, we had to get creative and make the best of it.

We'd love to do this again next year. Maybe make it a tradition. We hope to be better prepared and get to serve dinner on Christmas Eve at the homeless shelter.

The day I was returning from Post Falls was our first official "service day". Since I was on an airplane coming home, Jason and the kids volunteered at the Boise Rescue Mission warehouse without me. Abree got to help by making place mats, to be used at the Boise Rescue Mission Christmas dinner.

Treyson also made some place mats along with helping to sort food.Jason and Taylee sorted food, restocked the shelves and moved/organized pallets.

Rylee was at Cantus, practicing for her upcoming concert.

Everyone who volunteered, got to sign a bed sheet. The kids told me there were several sheets hung all around the warehouse. They loved leaving their "mark" and being a part of the sheet signing. I wish I could have been there. It sounded like they had an awesome experience and came home happy and excited to tell me everything.

Over the next 11 days, we did some type of service, as a family, each night. We did things ranging from baking cookies for neighbors, to picking up trash in parking lots. One of our favorite activities was our family's first annual "Christmas Service Scavenger Hunt".

I called it a scavenger hunt to get the kids excited about it. :)

We first found out what the Boise Rescue Mission needed most in donated items. Then I sent out an event invitation on FaceBook asking for friends and family to help with those type of donations. Those who wanted to participate, were asked to leave the items on their doorsteps and we would come pick them up, Monday evening.

I wanted to thank those who so graciously participated, so came up with this cute popcorn snowman to leave on front door handle, when picking up.

On the back it said, "Thanks for letting us POP by! Merry Christmas!

Love, The Smullin Family."

The kids drew the snowmen faces and body onto halves of white paper.

Then Jason and I tied jute for a handle, wrapped and taped the snowman around the popcorn package and finally tied a fleece scarf around the neck.

Monday, for FHE, we drove around gathering the donated items for our "scavenger hunt".

Everyone had a task to do and popped out at each stop. Abree was in charge of getting the popcorn snowmen on to the front door handle. I drove and opened the back hatch of the van. Jason and the older kids ran to the door and loaded the items into the back of the van. Initially there was some disharmony, but we quickly got into the spirit of things and pretty soon were having lots of fun.

We collected a variety of things including; laundry detergent and cleaning products, baby wipes and diapers, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant and toothpaste. Plus some fresh fruit, veggies and frozen meat.

The Rescue Mission was THRILLED to have the ground beef and roasts. They said they receive turkeys here and there, but rarely beef. They also mentioned that with serving 3,000 meals a day, the meat would go to good use.

We hope to make this a yearly tradition. We had lots of fun and it felt good to be serving our friends, family and neighbors in the community.

Service is where it's at... the reason for the season.