A Home for the Holidays

[amazondreamer]

A Home for the Holidays

The winter holiday season is upon us, a time of giving and generosity. A time for family and friends to unite and for children to experience wonder and magic.


“That's a load of crock!” A deep voice rumbles, “The holidays can bring out the worst in people. Spoiled children yammering for more toys. Stressed parents yelling at shopkeepers. The old and infirm neglected and ignored... I'm sick of it. Sick of all of it. It's past time for me to hang up my birch rods and retire from all this nonsense.”

Misery of the Holiday Judgment is the embodiment of the mythological figure of Krampus and has grown tired and cynical from judging and punishing all the naughty children. We need to prove to Misery that there is still joy and kindness in the world, and to do that I ask that you go out into your own communities and do good deeds and acts of generosity.

To enter this contest you must complete a real life good deed. This can be anything from donating money/food/toys to a local drive, or volunteering at a local shelter, help a neighbor shovel their sidewalk... pretty much anything you can think of. The only restriction is it shouldn't benefit you or your immediate family/household directly (no baking cookies for your sister or doing laundry for your roomate).

To enter simply post a short description of what you did. Pictures are welcome but not necessary, this is honor system. The good deeds must occur between now, Dec. 3 and Dec 30. 10:00PM Pacific time.


The Rules
Each “good deed” counts as one entry.
Players can submit up to three “good deeds”
Prizes will be assigned raffle style.
Entires must be posted in this thread no later than Dec 30th 10:00PM Pacific Time.

The Prizes
Misery of course will be the grand prize, with a few secret prizes still in the works
Participation prizes will be awarded to everyone who submits a good deed!

Any questions please ask! I know this is a little different than most contests but I hope you all enjoy it

[Jaes]

This is such a great idea! With everything that's going on in the world right now, we need to spread as much charity as we can.

[ElvenArcher]

What a great idea!
I will definitely try and do something. My mom tore her MCL, is on crutches, and is our only driver at the moment so we are kind of limited on traveling.

[Allihandra]

- Taking care of someone's pets while they take a holiday (...not sure if this counts?)

- Taking a work collegue of my husband's job to the airport.

- There was a long que at the checkout line. I was second to last, the man behind me had just a few items (me with a whole basket). When my turn came I told him to go before me. Made him smile big time.

[Puuka]

I love the idea of this, and I love that misery omg!

Yay for everyone doing good deeds! I'll definitely be doing my part <3

[amazondreamer]

I'm glad to see so many people are excited about this event! The original idea was Oak's, I'm just running it since I have more free time.

@Allihandra I'd say that counts if you're not getting paid, if you're just helping out.

[oakleafwolf]

I'm glad to see everyone is excited!

I wanted an event to encourage good deeds, but I also don't want to make it hard for people who can't get out or don't have buckets of money to pour into charity. Giving and helping out are fantastic! But you don't have to do anything fancy!



Here's a few ideas that will hopefully cover you, whatever your situation:

• -Charity can be done from home these days, and there are definitely several worthy causes that need supporting.
  
  -Volunteering is great and the price of admission is usually free! Food banks often need a lot of help processing holiday food donations, soup kitchens also. Or, if you would rather do something with lees people around, animal shelters often run short on dog walkers as the days get cold or rainy. There's also boys and girls clubs, habitat for humanity, raptor rehabilitation, etc-- just look around in your area.
  
  -If you can't get out much, live in a rural area, etc. There are also virtual volunteering opportunities.
  
  -Hubble Citizen Science allows you to assist with astronomical research to help us understand the universe. Did you know that most comets and planets are discovered by amateurs? If you like space, it might be worth looking into.
  
  -Similarly, https://scistarter.com/ has a number of projects, including some international ones. Or, try doing a search for citizen science in your area. A lot of times you can really help out, say, local conservation projects just by identifying what's in their trail camera pictures.

Do a bit of digging, and don't get discouraged! I'm a science nerd, so I tend to go for science-y things first, but if that's not your wheelhouse, there's bound to be something for you. Do what's reasonable for you.

We hear "every little bit helps" and it's hard to believe it sometimes, but remember that one shovel of dirt taken at the right part of a river bank can change the course of that river forever.
            Be awesome. I already know you are.

[ElvenArcher]

Thank you for the ideas!

Right now the only helping I am doing is going to work with my mom to be her 'legs'. She is a floral designer and works at a family owned store so she asked the Boss Man if she could bring me to work to help her. This week we aren't going out much because with just two of us working (out of 4 that can even get jobs). Money is very tight and payday isn't until Friday. I love volunteering though so maybe I can find something to do.

[Harroway]

This might sound weird but I have a good deed!

My husband and I went to a sports card shop we found from the street on Sunday, and as we walked in, the owner had accidentally knocked over a resin figurine of Joe Montana. (I have no idea who this is, he's some football guy?) Anyway, the owner was very upset, and I asked if I could see it. It's definitely resin, just like the garage kits I'm working on. I told him I could probably repair it and give it back to him, and he said he would give it to me for free. I told him no, since... I have no idea who Joe Montana is, but it's a good challenge!

He broke off at the ankle on one side and the knee on the other, and was scuffed up pretty bad. I told the owner I could glue him back together and paint him up a little bit. He's pretty old, so much of his paint is very yellowed. The owner said when I bring him back (which will be Thursday or Friday), he'll give it away to a fan. It's got Joe Montana's autograph on it!

Here's the figurine as proof:

https://imgur.com/n1i2nE1

You can see where he broke off behind the knee, since it's still white. I've painted over that and reinforced the break points with more glue. Great challenge!

[Kaats711]

I've got a couple!

1- Volunteering to fill in at a therapeutic riding center for disabled children (I hold a regular shift but I'm helping out more during December since there are a lot of absences)

2- Going in to work on a vacation day to help out a coworker

[Jaes]

1) Donated to Animal Aid Unlimited. They're an amazing charity in India and do such important work caring for animals. One of my favorite charities!

2) Volunteered at a local queer history archive. I've been working with them for years and really admire their commitment to preserving the voices of a historically oppressed group. Queer history in NYC is awesome. Really love these guys.

3) Donated to the New England Aquarium. I don't live in Mass anymore, but I've been playing a lot of Fallout 4 and it's making me miss Boston. The aquarium was one of my favorite places to visit.

[SunBlind]

- Donated at work to Sun Youth. So far the office is up to 2787$CA when the goal was only to reach 2500 And we still have a couple more days to go (update - think we got over 3k in the end). I had a doctor's appointment on the day they went to put the gift boxes together so missed out on that unfortunately.

- Since I was sick for the past week or so I didn't go out and do much of anything, but yesterday I finally got out of the house and had a bit of an embarassing moment. I was waiting for the bus when this skinny old man with a big white beard came up to me. He honestly looked homeless and since I wouldn't understand what he was saying I offered him some change but it turns out he just wanted to know if the bus was going in the direction he wanted. I felt horrible implying that he looked like a homeless man but he thought it was funny and thanked me for being nice anyway *blush*

[Harroway]

2) Used my vacation day to help mom with chores and moving furniture! She lives alone and is older, so she could definitely use some help. I don't mind, I love mom to pieces. The bookcase she wanted moved didn't end up fitting in the spot she wanted it to (in the foyer), so I moved it from the top floor to the basement. @_@

[ElvenArcher]

Finally got to do a couple of things. Yay! <3

1) Donated some food to the local food bank at our town Christmas party the other night.

2) I am also helping one of my mom's co-workers l. They are out of town for the week and needed someone to take care of their animals. My sister and I have doing it. We are not getting paid for it. We offered to do it to help them out.
We love pet sitting.

[FoxyJhai]

This is such a cool idea for an event.

1. I donated a couple of books to a local get kids to read more type of organization.

2. On Wednesday I plan surprising my co-workers with some churro cupcakes.

[Tervenna]

I bought a new Christmas Tree last year since my kitties were getting a bit too rowdy for the small one I had before. It was still in decent shape, so I didn't want to throw it out, but hadn't really decided what I wanted to do with it. This week, one of my coworkers was telling us about the tree he bought on Black Friday (he has a new baby and a new house, so he was trying to get something nice on a budget), and how it was completely not even close to what he was hoping. I gave him my old tree, though after looking at it, I wasn't sure about some of the lights. But he said it looks much nicer than the one he was dealing with, and you can always use a new string of lights if needed!

[Novanight]

I donated to Bring War Dogs Home last weekend so that Military dogs can get a nice retirement back here in the states with the people they have helped save.

[Toxick711]

I saved a turtle in the road. Little guy almost got smashed! Stopped my lane of traffic, got out of my car and grabbed the little guy. Stuck him in the passenger floor in my car till I could pull over. There was a lake near by and I let him go by that. Dont know if he could swim so... I just left him on the shore. Last thing I want is to throw a tortoise in water... ^_^;;

[LvSoulFriend]

1. Donated several boxes of books to the local bookstore that I no longer needed!

2. Dropped off a couple of 100 piece puzzles, complete with little carboard figurines and science fact sheets to the Toys for Tots in the area!

[RikkuGirl]

I know this isn't really what you might be looking for but I thought it was amusing and it did technically help someone else. lol

I work in an HOA management company at a 55+ community and I had a resident come into my office because she needed something printed from her computer. Only problem was, her little tablet/computer hybrid THING had a tiny little issue... or actually a few. To start, it couldnt get on the Wifi. This was because somehow she changed her settings to all be in portugese. Mind you, she has NO IDEA how to speak any other language but english. SO... to help her print her papers that she needed for her little committee meeting. I had to translate via google on my computer to find out what all the settings said and which one had to be adjusted to get it back to English. After about 20 minutes of typing in words into the translator, we were able to find languages under the advanced settings and changed it to english. lol It was very funny.

Best part.. her husband had no idea that she was having this issue because she felt embarassed to tell him that the past few weeks she has been fidgeting on it in another language while he is on his at night. hahaha. So, funny enough, he came into the office and she admited it all to him because it was now fixed. hahaha

Thought it was funny and kinda a good deed. lol Got her papers printed and her Wifi connected! so... yay. lol

[LvSoulFriend]

Brought a bread pudding into work for everyone to enjoy for a few hours before we go to our holiday party!

[amazondreamer]

Just a reminder- the contest ends this coming Saturday Dec 30th at 10:00PM!
I'm so pleased with all the kind deeds people are doing this holiday season

[amazondreamer]

H'okay! Sorry for the delay folks. I am super impressed with all the kind deeds this holiday season. It's always good to think of others, and spread a little cheer.



Misery was quite impressed with all of you, but he will be going home with ElvenArcher.

The joy of the holidays has brought in these two lovely angelic sams, and they are also quite pleased with these demonstrations of generosity!


Mystic of the Glorious Light is going with Jaes!


Murmur of the Pastoral Night is going with LvSoulFriend!


And everyone who joined in will be getting a lovely Birch Rod from Misery. These festive branches originally represented the switches used to punish naughty children, but in this context they're a cheery memento for your kind deeds. (A tradable item worth 5 points)

[ElvenArcher]

Oh my! Thank you! My first Misery! What an awesome thing to wake up to. <3

Congrats Jaes and LvSoulFriend!
Congrats everyone on the branches.

[oakleafwolf]

Congrats, everyone!