When my sister and I worked together during the early crazy Holiday seasons, we would sometimes start our day with a visit to Dunkin’ Donuts for a coffee (and OK maybe donuts for her and the little ones, but not for gluten-free me). This visit definitely did not fit in with our pledge to thrift – I can’t believe how expensive a cup of coffee can be – but during those 16 hour days a little coffee was a necessity not a luxury.

Given our thrift pledge, the first time we visited my sister surprised me when she pulled up to the window to pay and said to the cashier, “I’ll get his too”, and pointed to the car in line behind her. When she saw my eyebrows raise in question she told me, “Once I was having a really horrible day and I broke my rule of not spending money on coffee out because I just felt like I needed one. When I got to the cashier she told me I didn’t owe anything because the car in front of me had paid for my coffee. My whole day just transformed. Now during the Holiday season I like to pass it on as often as I can.” Pass it on. It’s so true. Pass on little random acts of kindness and your day could be transformed by a stranger one day too.

I love this story from Blogher of a Mom who watches her daughter do what comes completely naturally. The little girl shares her pizza with homeless man – no prompting, no discussion, just saw a man who was hungry and realized that she could share.

Can we all make a pledge to perform a random act of kindness today? Let’s share what we can and maybe more people would “pass it on”.