Thirteen Things You Can Do to Show the Christmas Spirit

1. Be a courteous driver. Smile and let the other guy have that parking space or let them merge into traffic.
2. Pay attention to people in the grocery line. If you have your week's worth of groceries and they have two or three things, let them go ahead of you.
3. Pay attention to people in general. Is someone trying to get something off a shelf that is too high for them or lift something that is too heavy? Give them a hand.
4. Any time you have a helpful, efficient sales clerk be sure to compliment and thank her/him.
5. If you have a grumpy clerk sympathize with their situation - they may have been on their feet for the last 8 to 12 hours. Say something like "Wow, I bet this is a tough job this time of year" and then be sure and thank them for their help.
6. Be considerate of the cashiers and other shoppers by checking before you get in line that all your items have price tags/stickers.
7. Also, if you're writing a check, why not go ahead and get it all filled out except the amount while you're waiting in line.
8. Make business size cards that say something like "Merry Christmas and thank you for your service" to give to the bank teller, to the person working the drive up window, or with your tip at a restaurant.
9. Take the opportunity to teach your kids to be charitable. Have them go through their toys, CDs, or clothes and pick a couple of things that they don't use or don't want any more that are in good shape and go as a family to donate them to a local charity. For older kids make a donation in their name as one of their Christmas presents. Then use a card or ornament to commemorate this gift.
10. Pledge to do one "random act of kindness" each day from Dec. 1st to Dec. 25th.
11. Help an elderly or disabled relative, friend, or neighbor with wrapping their Christmas presents or decorating their tree.
12. Do you know a single parent? Offer to babysit while they Christmas shop. If you aren't up to that or aren't familiar enough to do that then offer to wrap presents for them.
13. Do something different this year (it may become a new family tradition) like working at a soup kitchen or mission, having the whole family help shovel a neighbor's driveway, etc. Are you dating or do you and your spouse have a "date night"? A few years ago when my nephew and his wife were just dating they decided instead of the usual dinner and a movie type date that they wanted to do something different. They took another couple and went to a nearby large city and passed out blankets on the streets to the homeless. Get creative!