"Ringing" in the Season

Anna and I got to ring the Salvation Army bell on Thursday. Not sure if you remember Thursday or not but it was pretty darn cold! The day before, we had gone to Walmart to get some things and saw that they were ringing the bell in the walkthrough area and not outside. I had told Anna earlier in the week that we were going to freeze our buns off when it was our time but then when we saw them inside, I wasn't concerned. Obviously, because we didn't take a jacket, gloves or anything. We were dressed for cold weather but not for arctic! The lady before us moved the station inside, and we happily began ringing the bell. Until... about 30 minutes into our 2 hour timeslot, the mean Walmart guy kicked us outside. I understood but it ticked me off. In all of the Christian, Christmas spirit I could muster told him he needed to stop talking to me because it was patronizing. We grudgingly and grumpily moved outside. Tommy came and picked up Anna when he got off of work. It was just too cold for her to be outside. It took me about 10 minutes or so to find my smile. I was shivering so much I really didn't have to put much effort into ringing the bell. It kind of rang on its own. I later found out that the previous day people all got to ring inside! The nice manager must have been on duty that day. How unfair and what a uncharitable thing to do to kick a coatless, gloveless mom and 9 year old girl out to the curb! All in all, I'm glad I did it. I got to see alot of people, raise alot of money for a good cause (people seemed to feel sorry for me so I think they gave more), and I survived.

Then, because I love ringing the bell so much, I signed Tommy and I up for Saturday! It was a bit warmer and quite pleasant. The bucket was so full that I kept having to shove the money over to the sides of the bucket so people could put more in. I was struck by how things are seemingly so grim in our economy and especially down here with what Dow has done, that people were still able to be generous. It's so much fun to watch the kids put a few coins in. Good job, parents! They aren't sure what they are doing but you are teaching them, even in small ways, that they can be generous. It's also fun to watch the people avoid "the bucket". They won't make eye contact for anything and alot of them resort to talking on their cell phone as if I'm going to judge them for not putting a quarter in the bucket. I love watching people.

We also saw a lot of people we knew. I even got a "beautiful" necklace from a guy wearing his Christmas spirit from head to toe (including a red and green "Red Man" chewing tobacco cap).

As I said, he was dressed from head to toe in red and green. Red house slippers, green pajama pants, a dingy white thermal shirt, some type of funky belt and a navy blue terry cloth bathrobe belt around his neck and then tied into the sides of his belt. And the Red Man cap. He came over to us and stopped. Set down his Bucee's mug and took off his cap. Then he took off this long rope necklace that had several things wrapped, tied, twisted into it. One of those things was the necklace that apparently he was planning to give to me. It took him a long time to get it untangled out of there. He didn't say much. We watched and waited and I was hoping the whole time that Tommy was prepared to protect me or chase him down if he tried to steal the bucket. Anyway, he simply said that we were doing a good thing and that the bell ringers deserved a reward. I mentioned to him that it looked like that necklace was in there good. He said that he meant it that way and it was intended to stay there until it found it's rightful owner. ME! I thanked him, he thanked us again and he went on his way. Interesting story and pretty unresolved. Who knows what God is doing sometimes, right? I don't think I could begin to figure this one out. I do know I'm keeping the necklace. Not sure if I'll ever wear it, but I'm keeping it.

So, I got to ring the bell with my husband and daughter, see alot of people we knew and tell a whole bunch of people thank you and Merry Christmas and alot of them told me Merry Christmas back. We smiled and waved at a ton of kids and they smiled back and looked all impressed that the bell ringer people noticed them. Good times!!

We won't be here next year to ring the bell at Walmart - maybe we'll get to in Singapore. If you haven't done it before, it's so easy and pretty rewarding - you should! You may even get a necklace from Mr. "Red Man" Christmas!