What is it about the red and white stripy wrapper, set off with the obligatory twinkle lights of course, that makes those candy canes look soooo appealing?!?

Every time I see one I’m reminded of Elf (“don’t eat the yellow snow!”) and my pulse speeds up with just the thought of all that sugar. Yummy!

Of course the little darling in the photo won’t get touched until it’s time to take the tree down (unless it should ‘accidentally’ fall, all by itself, with no help from my eldest whatsoever!) but then I got to thinking about other sweet stuff that we could store up this Christmas.

Words. Smiles. Acts of random kindness.

I don’t really believe in storing up karma. The image of God sat there with some kind of a cosmic abacus, adding and subtracting based on how good or otherwise we’ve been on any given day, just doesn’t feel right. Bad stuff happens to good people and vice versa.

But I do very definitely believe in love and kindness and goodness and how fabulous the world looks and feels when we smile at a stranger in the street.

So I was wondering about the idea of storing up those good feelings, a bit like how all that sugar is stored up, extra concentrated in that candy cane on my tree, but instead of saving them all for after Christmas, what if they got so full up, they couldn’t help but come oozing out the top a bit? (Reminds me of the year my mum’s mincemeat fermented just a little too much. Oooh that batch was potent!)

And so, your mission for today, if you choose to accept it, is to look for little ways to add some sweetness to someone else’s day (and nope, adding an extra spoonful of sugar to their tea does not count!)

For bonus points … keep a record of what you did or said. That stuff is amazing to look back on later!

Go on, I dare you! 😉