Treats for Neighbors

I saw this idea on some blog a couple months ago and tucked it away for Christmas this year. We are attempting to create a community within our little block of neighbors and have found that it's surprisingly not difficult to do. Everyone we interact with is super friendly and excited to talk to us when we visit, it's just that we have to actually make an effort to visit our neighbors and interact with them. It doesn't just happen. I am amazed that some of our neighbors have been here for 12+ years and never talked to our other neighbors that have been here since the 1960s. This past summer we had a cookout and invited all the neighbors that live close to us. This created an opportunity for us to get to know our neighbors, and for them to get to know one another. Our goal would be to have all of our neighbors over individually at least once throughout the year...still working on that!

For an excuse to visit our neighbors, I made these festive little red-velvet-cakes-with-cream-cheese-icing in a jar goodies :) We gave these little scrumptious delights to them and gave them an invitation to our Christmas eve/morning service at church. Of the six neighbors' houses we went to, four of them invited us in to talk for a while. Isn't that amazing? One of the ladies, whose husband recently passed away, came to our house on Christmas eve morning for our 2nd annual Christmas eve brunch! We were delighted to have her and hope to have her again soon! Another neighbor came over last night with her grandchildren to give Hannah a Christmas present! I am seriously shocked at how easy it is to create a community among people that are total strangers to one another. It just takes a bit of effort, consistency, and of course, prayer :) I'd encourage you to do it!