The Hot Cocoa Party!

Holy windchill, Batman, it was freezing yesterday! So cold that any hot cocoa we spilled froze on the tablecloth.  So cold that the hot chocolate turned to lukewarm unless you pounded your drink in the first minute-and-a-half you had it. So cold that snowpants were *the* style statement of the day.

Yesterday was our big ol' Hot Cocoa Party, remember?

That's my girl!  

There were two amazing things that happened at the Hot Cocoa for Water stand.

First, with a simple table set up with marshmallows, whipped cream and a carafe of homemade hot chocolate just over $200 was raised for charity:water.org.  The best news is that 100% of the money we send to them will directly fund water projects.  Can I get a woot?!

Second, it was the kids that made it happen. Friday night we had them designing flyers with a full set of smelly markers. Then during the event, our girls made it their mission to run up and down both sides of the street, going door to door to advertise the stand, even delivering cups of cocoa to those leery of the arctic air.

Little sisters can help too!  

My eldest (she of the big ideas and bigger heart) spent her morning at church spreading the word, carefully repeating the address of the cocoa stand, and sincerely but determinedly buttonholing church members to tell them about our fundraiser.

The boys at the party were seriously distracted by a Star Wars battle of some sort, but not so busy they couldn't stand on the stone wall and wave at passers-by with our handpainted sign.

It feels like a lifetime ago, when I wrote a piece for Classic Play about taking my kids to a Habitat for Humanity build. We were delivering snacks that day, and I wondered how I would continue to show my kids that they could effect change.

In the final paragraph, I wrote: A life of service is one in which we share what we have, in an effort to work towards connectedness with each other as human beings.  

This is it.  We are connected to each other through a basic life-sustaining need for water.  By gathering around a pot of cocoa and a plate of cookies today, with neighbors and friends, with our larger community, we connected.  We connected with each other in chatting, catching up, and laughing together, but we also connected with the world around us - through sharing what we have, we acknowledge those who cannot.  Here, we say.  I can share.

Paradise Hot Cocoa Peeps!  The lovely Jen, Editor-in-Chief of Classic Play is there in the middle, Mr & Mrs NilsenLife are over on your left, and Betsy Stein, editor of Maryland Family Magazine is in blue, hidden behind her 10 year old.

****all images courtesy of www.classic-play.com***