I have determined I've been on a natural high for probably a month or so now! I have my moments, but that's just it, they are moments, not days, weeks or even months! Life is simply amazing!
I've been hoping to update every day this week and have not gotten the opportunity to. Work has kept me busy and after work I'm working on the Assemble project for my brother. Last weekend was pretty incredible! Lots of parties and good times!
The Place Christmas Party (Friday, December 8, 2006) - The church Christmas party was a lot of fun! I left work early on Friday to get up the hill by 4pm to take pictures of Rachel and her family at the local park. Once that was done, I rushed home, got my hair curled, grabbed my outfit and rushed out the door with enough time to grab a gift certificate from Starbucks for the gift exchange before the party.
I looked good. I felt good. So when I got there I was glad to get pictures with Rachel and Heidi. It turns out velvet was the common fabric of the evening! Three of us girls were wearing it and I made sure to get pictures of us together. They will of course be posted shortly. I may edit this post and add a couple to it.
The Chinese gift exchange turned out to be a good time! I always like it when people are running around stealing gifts from other people. Haha I ended up getting exactly what I was hoping for.
Alliance Christmas Party (Saturday, December 9, 2006) - Saturday I was able to sleep in and then I worked on the Assemble project for my brother until it was time to get ready for the Alliance Christmas party. I drove down to Rancho, before making my way over to Yucaipa, to pick up a gift for my secret santa person, though I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be at the party, I decided it wouldn’t be good to come empty handed if he happened to show up.
I got there and was impressed with how nicely Keith’s house was decorated for the party. It turns out it was all Jessica’s doing. I know the people I work with, and most I knew through linkLINE. But this was the first time I was hanging out with my coworkers outside of the office since starting to work for Alliance. I felt a bit awkward and out of place. I found myself getting in trouble texting my friend too much and Jessica took my phone away! I thought that was funny. Keith was sweet and asked me to join his table. I enjoyed hanging out with Keith and playing the games. I got a $50.00 AMEX gift card! And my secret santa got me a Partylite jar candle! I thought it was great!
The only downer was that something was said at one point in the night that caused me to be extremely insecure. I thought it might be a joke, but it was something I couldn’t shake. I tried really hard to just enjoy my time. I figured the party wasn’t the time to sit down with the person and find out what they meant by it.
After the party, since I was just blocks away, I stopped by Sam’s parent’s house to say hi. It had been a while since I had seen them and had talked to Robin beforehand to see if it would be ok. It was great to see them. I love that family! Doug was there with a newly bought race car so I got to check that out. I stayed for about an hour and then decided to make my way home.
The drive home was a bit intense. The rain was pouring and the roads were a bit slick. I was still unable to shake the insecurities of that one comment. I called my dad who prayed for me, yet I still wasn’t doing well. Everyone I wanted to talk to wasn’t available since it was so late. So I just got home and went to sleep hoping that the next morning I would be able to wake up with a new day and new perspective.
Free Hugs (Sunday, December 10, 2006) - Sunday I got to church and found that I was feeling some residual insecurity from the night before. Crazy how one comment can affect your core fear to that level. I had to take a bunch of pictures for the church roster. So I grabbed as many people as I could and tried to take the pictures in different locations so it didn’t look like it was all the same place.
After church our Post High School to 30-Something group planned to meet at the Best Buy / Toys R Us parking lot in Victorville to give out Free Hugs. At first I was completely nervous and unsure of what kind of response we would get standing outside a store holding signs that said “Free Hugs”. But I soon found out that people were very receptive to it! It was a complete and utter blast. Within minutes the guys that were skeptical of even doing it were having the time of their lives! It was cool to see people’s reactions to us offering free hugs without any strings attached! People would look at our signs with utter confusion on their face! It was great! Originally we thought we would only be there for an hour, but we were having so much fun and had so much positive feedback that we stayed for 2 hours! It was a perfect location. I was even thanked a couple of times because the person really just needed that hug! It was such an awesome experience! People stopped and got out of their cars to get a hug! We hugged through windows, though I tried my best not to stop traffic because it was a busy location!
We only had maybe 10% of the people have a negative view of what we were doing. But for the most part people were amazed that we were just out there to spread hugs! I gave out sooo many hugs! I would say about 40-50% of the people that I offered hugs to, took me up on the offer! I had no idea that it would be so well received. I was smiling ear-to-ear and in the end felt that I had been apart of a pretty amazing thing! I was so high from the experience I couldn’t stop talking to everyone about it! One kid thought it was such a great idea he asked if he could take the idea to his church group at New Life!
After our two hours my arms were tired! I was physically exhausted giving out that many hugs! I noticed when offering hugs that kids were more excited to give and receive hugs then their parents. It was sad when parents wouldn’t let them stop to hug. Though I know hugging strangers is probably not the safest thing to teach kids.
But all-in-all it was one of the best experiences in my life!!! And our group plans to meet again to give out Free Hugs, hopefully before Christmas because it seemed to be so appropriate that we were handing out hugs during a season when people can be at their worst! I had someone tell me that they really needed my hug especially after coming out of Toys R Us. So I will keep you posted on any future events! Maybe you can stop by and get a free hug!
Marc & Jess’s Family and Friend BBQ (Sunday, December 10, 2006) - After the Free Hug event I drove back down to Keith’s house in Yucaipa for a BBQ for Marc and Jess since they were flying back to Wisconsin this week. I wanted to make sure to get in one last hug before they left. I walked in and realized that I knew even less people there then I knew at the Christmas party for Alliance the night before. I wasn’t sure how comfortable I would be and how long I would stay.
But before I knew it I saw Rob, Marc’s brother, who used to work at linkLINE and we had fun talking about our views of linkLINE. I was introduced to Marc’s dad and sister who both said, “Oh *you’re* Charity!” haha I just joined into conversations and had a lot of fun. Robin, Doug and Sasha happened to show up while I was there so I got a chance to catch up with Sasha which was nice. I don’t believe I’ve seen her since her birthday dinner in early October. I stayed for a couple of hours and then made my way home.
Christmas - I got home early enough to get Christmas decorations up. I love Christmas! Every morning on my gratitude walk I can’t help but be grateful for this holiday! For what it means, what it stands for, and what it does for me. When I think of Christmas I think of warmth and comfort, family and friends, beautiful decorations, cinnamon scents, snowflakes (even if I live in California!) and hot chocolate! I love Christmas!
Labels: Christmas, Free Hugs, Parties, Pictures
posted by Charity at 12/14/2006 11:46:00 PM 
