Tomorrow is the Monday...

May you never look at Monday the same again!

Tomorrow, I am going to give you the chance to win ‘pounds o chocolate’... Yummy chocolate from around the globe. Approximately $40 in chocolate to be exact.

The question is, what will you have to do to enter? That is my problem at the moment. I have some wonderful ideas... well, one's *I* think are wonderful, but will I get enough participants?

My dream when I was a younger, crazier adolescent was to change the world.

CHANGE THE WORLD... *echo echo echo*

Pretty lofty dream for a kid, eh?

I couldn’t help it, I wanted a better world. Not just for me but for my friends, family, and the homeless individual downtown who slept in a box.

You know, if you look up when you walk down the street, the mall, visit the library… you can learn a lot about life and people.

One reason this blog is called Eisley's Ellipses is wrapped around this whole concept of looking up when you walk. Using your FEET if you will... being HANDS.

Did you know the word Eisley means “strong”... and Ellipses are the things we "take out" of life... so Eisley Ellipses are the “The hard things we take out of life”. In my world, even the tough stuff needs to be learned from.

I digress, I do that a lot.

So, why would a twelve year old girl want to change the world?

It is who I was raised to be. You can Thank my single parent mom for that, I do :)

I have always tried to never take but to give. I see a need, I try to feel a need. There is so much more to life than keeping up with the Jones’… not that I don’t try at times to do that too. But if we can't help those around us...

What does this have to do with my chocolate contest?

Probably nothing. I actually thought I would run the contest and ask for anyone who entered to, ‘Pay it Forward’ and then come and tell us how it went, what you did and how it made you feel.

But I didn’t want people to not enter because they didn’t have the monetary provisions to accomplish this task. So, instead I will do something EVERYONE can join in, regardless of their status. Tomorrow.

Today, if you like the idea of paying it forward this Christmas Season to make a difference in someone’s life... here are a few ideas to spring off of.

• Buy a $5 gift card to Starbucks and write a small message in the envelope saying Merry Christmas and to have a cup of coffee on you.
• Buy the person behind you in the Starbucks line their coffee.
• Pay the toll for the person behind you on the bridge.
• Buy an extra hot chocolate and hand it to the guy on the corner.
• Get a card stick a $5 gift card to McDonald's in it and write a message to the person who finds it. Address the card: "To the person who finds this.”
• Ask your local church if they are aware of a family in need and buy them a turkey.
• Buy a pack of warm socks and tie each pair up with a bow and put them in your car and when you see a homeless man on the street. Give him a pair.
• You know someone who is struggling this Christmas season because they have no job (or spouse doesn’t have a job) send them an anonymous money order in the mail or drop a box on their door step.
• Know a single parent? Offer to watch her kids for a night so she can have a break.
• You know that same single parent? Buy her kids a Christmas present this year and leave it on the doorstep and run!
• Allow an extra person to cut in line during that long commute.
• Smile and say Good Morning to every person you see this morning.
• Next time you see someone using W.I.C. checks, purchase what they are trying to use their WIC on.
• If you are a believer: Ask your checkout person if there is anything you can pray for them about this Christmas season.
• If you aren't a believer: Ask you checkout person how their day is going. Tell them they look lovely, even if you have to lie ;)
• Buy a Christmas Ornament that means something special to you and wrap it up with a note as to why is means so much to you, then give it to a stranger.
• And the list could go on... and on...

I challenge you to make a difference in ONE life this week. If you do, let me know so I can smile and feel all warm and cozy.

No, this isn’t the contest… this is just my way of trying to change the world, one life at a time.

Chocolate, tomorrow. :)