Everywhere I turn this time of year, I am seeing the holiday spirit alive and well in the form of Random Acts of Kindness.

I hear about it on the radio, where someone from of my favorite radio stations is going about town buying people’s toys for them today. One woman who was the recipient of this Random Act of Kindness turned around and purchased a gift to be donated to Toys for Tots to pay the kindness forward.

I find it line at the Starbucks drive-thru, where patrons are treating the people in the cars behind them to free drinks and pastries.

I see it with a friend of mine, who is giving away her beautiful beaded snowflakes…just because.

Our family was the recipient of a Random Act of Kindness just yesterday. My boys found a book on our porch: The Elf On The Shelf with the accompanying elf. No card, no tag, no signature inside the book to indicate who this surprise might be from.

If you don’t know the story of The Elf On The Shelf, it goes a little something like this: Santa’s helper comes in the form of an elf to see who is being naughty or nice. The first task is to name the elf (“Boogs”), and then he sits, watches, and reports back to Santa. Part of the fun is that he changes spots every night, so you never know where you’ll find the elf the next day.

There is a part of me that is thrilled with the anonymity of a Random Act of Kindness, but I must confess there is a bigger part of me that is dying to know. Who left this for us? Who can we thank for this marvelous surprise? Who can share our joy with? You can bet I’ll be spending the day trying to figure out who could have left us this gift!

But I’ll also be spending the day doing my own Random Acts of Kindness, beginning with a giveaway! Leave a comment below by Thursday, December 20 at noon PST, and I will send one lucky winner a holiday surprise…just for fun!

I’m also going to do an anonymous Random Act of Kindness today…a gift to someone who will never know it’s from me.

I hope these Random Acts of Kindness continue well past the holiday season. I think all of us could use some small reminders of all the good there still is in people.