Christmas Hospitality: Showing Kindness during the Holiday Season
Examples of Christmas hospitality are commonly found during the holidays.
I know.
Taking a picture of a solitary fork under a Christmas tree is a bit odd, but this is no ordinary fork.
It represents Christmas Hospitality.
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Christmas Hospitality
Some time ago, during a difficult time in my life, a family invited me to join them in their home for Christmas Eve dinner. To be invited for dinner is a blessing any time of the year, but the fact that it was Christmas Eve made it extra special.
The time I spent with this family that night became extra meaningful, as some of those family members who ate and laughed with us around the table that night are no longer with us.
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.
unknown
When I left their home that Christmas Eve night, I inadvertently took one of their forks home with me.
My intention was to return the fork to the family as soon as possible, but two years went by and the fork was still in my kitchen drawer. Each time I caught sight of it, it served as a reminder of the generous Christmas hospitality of this wonderful family.
An Opportunity to Comfort
Fast forward exactly two years and this family is now the one going through a difficult time. This time, I have the opportunity to bless them with a meal and encouraging words of comfort.
Having experienced loss becomes a gift when it allows one the opportunity to comfort another in their time of loss.
The finest pleasure is kindness to others.
jean de la bruyere
A Reminder
Today, I’m happy to announce that the fork is back with its rightful owners. Before returning the fork to the family, however, I snapped a picture of it under my Christmas tree.
Why?
To serve as a reminder of the difference a simple meal made in my life exactly two years ago today.
What difference has a simple meal made in your life?
In what ways has Christmas hospitality bless your life?
Share in the comments below.
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Christmas Quotes
Christmas quotes that encourage Christmas kindness and Christmas hospitality:
“I have always thought of Christmas time… as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time.”
Charles Dickens
“I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.”
Vincent Norman Peale
“Christmas was close at hand, in all his bluff and hearty honesty; it was the season of hospitality, merriment, and open-heartedness; the old year was preparing, like an ancient philosopher, to call his friends around him, and amidst the sound of feasting and revelry to pass gently and calmly away.”
Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
“Sometimes the best Christmas present is remembering what you’ve already got.”
Cathy Guisewite
“Peace on earth and mercy mild are still possible. On Christmas Eve, all things are possible.”
Gregg Easterbrook
“Christmas is a great time to recommit to each other and our communities.”
James Lankford
“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”
Calvin Coolidge
“Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends.”
Margaret Thatcher
“No one has a right to expect anything at Christmas. It should be a day of unexpected and unlooked-for blessings, which drop as the gentle dew from heaven.”
Margaret Collier Graham
“Best of all, Christmas means a spirit of love, a time when the love of God
and the love of our fellow men
should prevail over all hatred and bitterness,
a time when our thoughts
and deeds and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God.”
George McDougall
“Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.”
Washington Irving
Holiday Inspiration: Entertaining Angels
Gifts for Giving
A selection of gifts to give throughout the holiday season:
Hospitality Book Recommendations
- Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect – Learn how to provide an excellent experience to others while gathered around the table
- Extraordinary Hospitality (for Ordinary People): Seven Ways to Welcome Like Jesus – Generous hospitality is a significant way in which God works through our lives to bring life to others
- The Urgent Recovery of Hospitality: How Rediscovering Generosity Restores a Civil World – Rediscover the essence of true hospitality, where each interaction is rooted in authenticity and connection
- Simple Hospitality: An Invitation to Add Kindness to Your Everyday Life – The simple act of looking for ways to bring an effervescent happiness to others is hospitality
Children’s Books about Kindness
- Chrysanthemum – This book is the perfect vehicle for starting a discussion about treating classmates with tolerance, kindness, and compassion
- Tiny T. Rex – A warm and funny picture book that proves the best hugs come from the biggest hearts
- Enemy Pie – A funny and endearing children’s book that teaches how to turn enemies into friends
- ABC’s of Kindness – Grow kind hearts with this sweet board book series
- Fill a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Young Children – This book shows how we can fill each other’s buckets by being kind, loving, and caring. It also teaches the importance of filling other people’s buckets as well as our own.
- Interrupting Chicken – A funny story that teaches children not to interrupt when others are talking
Free Download
Poetry about Kindness
Kindness by Edgar Guest
One never knows
How far a word of kindness goes;
One never sees
How far a smile of friendship flees.
Down, through the years,
The deed forgotten reappears.
One kindly word
The souls of many here has stirred.
Man goes his way
And tells with every passing day,
Until life’s end:
“Once unto me he played the friend.”
We cannot say
What lips are praising us to-day.
We cannot tell
Whose prayers ask God to guard us well.
But kindness lives
Beyond the memory of him who gives.
This poem is in the public domain.
A Kind Word by Author Unknown
How little it costs, if we give it a thought,
To make happy some heart each day!
Just one kind word or a tender smile,
As we go on our daily way.
Perchance a look will suffice to clear
The cloud from a neighbor’s face,
And the press of a hand in sympathy,
A sorrowful tear efface.
One walks in sunlight, another goes
All weary in the shade;
One treads a path that is fair and smooth;
Another must pray for aid.
It costs so little! I wonder why
We give it so little thought?
A smile, kind words, a glance, a touch–
And what magic may be wrought!
This poem is in the public domain.
Homeschool Gift Guide
For all your homeschool gift-giving needs!
Holiday Kindness: ‘Tis the Season to be Kind
Too often, holiday chaos replaces holiday kindness during the winter months.
The Costco parking lot, as we all know, is a zoo right before Thanksgiving, and I was having the time of my life finding a parking spot for my longbed truck.
Inching my way past the rows of vehicles, I was forced to step on the brakes as a car in front of me pulled out of their parking spot.
Annoyances
The person in the car next to me, unaware of why I had stopped, honked the horn with impatience. Turning to look at them, I realized they were hoping to pull into a parking spot that my truck was now blocking.
Understanding their frustration, I pointed to the car in front of me to let them know why I had stopped. I saw them peer over their shoulder to where I was pointing and assumed there would be no hard feelings since they now, presumably, understood why I had stopped.
Continuing my search for a parking spot, I drove down the next aisle of cars. Imagine my relief when I saw several available parking spots right next to each other. I knew that pulling the truck in backwards would make my getaway much easier, and I now had the space to do just that.
Shifting into reverse, I inched the truck backwards into a parking spot, wishing I had someone to guide me. I jumped out to see how close I was to the car behind me, then got back in the truck to close the two foot gap.
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An Apology
Looking intently into the rearview mirror, I inched backwards and stopped when a lady, who was suddenly visible in my rearview mirror, signaled me to do so. Man–was I grateful to her in that moment, and I planned to tell her so! Jumping out of the truck, I turned to look at her and was caught off guard when she said,
“I want to apologize for honking at you back there. I realized later why you had stopped and I just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry.”
Short dark hair, about my age, tattoos up and down her left arm–these are the things my eyes noticed as my brain kept repeating, “I can’t believe she tracked me down to apologize. I can’t believe she tracked me down to apologize. I can’t believe she tra…”
“No worries,” I told her with a smile. “I figured you didn’t realize there was a car pulling out in front of me. By the way, thank you for guiding me as I backed my truck in. That was so helpful.”
“No problem,” she said. “I know what it’s like to park a longbed.”
She smiled and turned towards her vehicle to locate her husband. As I headed towards the store entrance, I couldn’t help but feel grateful for the kind people in this world, whose kindnesses help to overshadow the negative things in life–even in a Costco parking lot.
Car Incident
Fast forward three days to the day after Thanksgiving. My children and I were on our way to the Temple Visitors’ Center when our truck began making a horrendous grinding sound. I pulled into the turning lane near the temple. My was to make it to the visitors’ center parking lot where I could safely inspect the vehicle. Suddenly, the passengers in the car next to ours started shouting at us and pointing to the back of the truck.
I shifted the truck into park and walked around to the back where I saw that the spare tire had been jarred loose from its latch.
The tire, along with the metal bar it was attached to, were being dragged across the ground.
I bent down to inspect the damage.
The massive tire was shredded.
It was still attached to the bar, but there was no way I had the strength to remove it and heft it into the bed of the truck. I stood, wondering what my options were, when I heard a voice behind me:
“What ya got going on there?” asked a tall African-American guy as he crossed the light rail tracks with a backpack swung over his shoulder.
The Kindness of Strangers
I explained the situation to him. Without hesitating, he tossed his backpack aside, got down on the ground in the middle of the road, and, with great effort, proceeded to remove the tire from the bar and put it in the bed of the truck. He reattached the bar to the latch and assured me that everything should be good to go.
“Thank you so much,” I said as I shook his hand. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t offered to help.”
“My pleasure,” he said as he retrieved his backpack, crossed the street, and continued his walk down the sidewalk.
Climbing back into the truck, my children and I continued to our destination, feeling more grateful than ever for the kindness of strangers.
In what ways have strangers blessed your life during the holiday season and throughout the year? Share in the comment section below.
