We completed our baking task yesterday. Phew! Not only was I in a hot kitchen, but it was in the high 60’s in the South. Not the ideal situation for baking, but we did it anyway. My only problem was the Hershey kisses on the peanut butter blossoms did not set for a looooong time. Yes, it was that hot in my house.
Once we finished all the different sweets, we piled them on plates and had my kids deliver them {in the rain} to our neighbors. They were all appreciative {well, almost all}. One of our neighbors has a difficult time with social interaction, so his negative response surprised my daughter. I thought his wife or my daughter’s friend would be home to answer the door, but that was not the case. I just told my daughter that she did a great job helping me bake and delivering the goodies. Not everyone is going to be cheerful and appreciative and we have to be okay with that.
We do not give gifts to get affirmation from the receivers, but to serve someone else without expectation of anything in return. We never know what challenges someone may be going through during this season {or any season}. Although the knee-jerk response is to be negative back when negative is received, the point of goodwill is to be kind and helpful in all situations.
A few hours later I received a voice mail from the neighbor’s wife. She was very thankful for the cookies and wanted to let me know how much she appreciated our kindness. “It’s good to know we have good neighbors,” were her exact words.
