Would you like to join a kindness and gratitude thread?

Just had evening meal in a restaurant with family - so nice and then there I was expecting to pay when my son said he wanted to pay for us all. Such a nice evening and I am grateful.

A sunny day and another to come tomorrow. That's enough for me today!
Happy New Year to all for 2026.

TWA60 - what a great story! Thank you.
I am going abroad soon and got a lot of help from a grandchild over managing money cards while away - and am grateful.
Wishing everyone a year ahead where we can find good things in our worlds and the people around us - we often find what we look for. Have a fulfilling 2026.........

Applegran, this is a brilliant thread, thank you, and I'm very pleased you got your handbag back!

When I was in a shop yesterday, the lady at the till, who is only 18 and it's her first job, is still in training - it's a normal Casio TE-100 non-scanner, the till wouldn't open as the drawer got stuck! It was only her on duty, and the manager was nowhere to be found, so I asked her if she knew there was a secret release button under the till; she didn't.

With no manager and no CCTV to catch me doing it, I quickly lifted the till and showed her the button, and the drawer came pinging out!

She was so happy and thanked me!

I was grateful to the railway companies - Southern and Thameslink - for running trains to schedule yesterday, despite various hiccups.

I had a hectic day and was delighted that I had time to pick up a cup of coffee at my change-over station, and got home bang on time.
Thank you.

Merry Christmas to anyone who is celebrating; looking forward to a positive start to the New Year too.

Grateful for a beautiful sunny day and for having some family here and more are coming later. I just wanted to say I hope everyone has something they can be glad about and to send loving thoughts and good wishes again to those who find this time of year is not easy. I am sure others on GN also send those warm thoughts to you.

How lovely, Wyllow. Glad you are on the mend.

Even better!

The neighbours from across the road just came over outside the door with recorders, a Christmas song, and little Christmas biscuits.
They were a German family and follow those customs. It was so sweet. ☺️.

After a week of fluey aches and heavy cold,

I went back to my gym, and as I live alone, it is good to be out and stretch a bit and say hello to people:

And now enjoying a Costa which is a "local". Friendly regulars and staff. (one of them is humming to herself right now as she's just moved to a lovely flat ☺️)

Thank you Applegran for this lovely Thread and your Christmas wishes. Sounds like you are going to have a wonderful busy time. 🍎

We had a similar experience with suitcases and the underground. At the bottom of some steep steps someone offered to carry my suitcase up and said to his mate “you take Grandad’s”. By the time we got to the top of the stairs they had vanished before we could thank them.

I am waiting for some of my family to arrive - they will stay till new year. I am so grateful that I will see both my son and wife and two grandchildren. And I have done some cooking and preparing and also agreed that the next generation will now do the work - they are happy to do it and it means I can just enjoy this precious time.
Other family cannot be here this year but we will all talk to each other so it feels good that we can all connect.
And I am grateful too that I have had a helpful consultation with an eye doctor and, though of course wish I did not have a problem with my eyes, I am very grateful that I am getting excellent care.
I wish everyone the happiest time possible over Christmas and send special good wishes to the people for whom this is a difficult time.

Returned from holiday at around midnight last night - had enjoyed the holiday and am grateful. But at this minute I am thinking of the young woman who helped us at the airport - took any stress out of getting through the airport to the right place to get the plane in good time. And then a brilliant much needed night's sleep! I know I am lucky to have had a holiday at all, and am glad MrA enjoyed it , as his health may make good holidays difficult in the future - so I celebrate what is good right now.

Had a lovely after school visit from GD. Caught up with all of their weekend news.
Grateful that she still wants to drop by.

Unfortunately expect the trolls as they love to try and destroy anything that's good , helps people and makes people happy.

Well amazingly this turns out to be World Kindness week! I learn this from this organisation kindness.org/
It introduces KQ - Kindness Quotient - which they say is like IQ but kinder. I think you can answer questions to learn about your own kindness to people you work with!
It is about kindness in everyday life, and at work and in the classroom and they have a podcast too. Much of what they suggest is research based - and they show that things work better all round when people are kind. So I celebrate this thread with so many examples of real kindness. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread - and to others who may add more about kindness and gratitude.

Mr A and I are on holiday in Europe where the tap water is not for drinking and we set out to find somewhere where we could buy a bottle of drinking water. We could not find anywhere , so we went into a pharmacy on the off chance that they sold water. The friendly woman behind the counter disappeared to somewhere in the back of the shop and came back with a bottle of water for us. I asked how much it was and she said 'Nothing - it is mine!' Of course I said I could not just take it - but she insisted and finally, with many grateful thanks we left with a bottle of water. Such kindness from a stranger.

That's really good to hear about your son, lixy.
Lovely posts on this Thread.

At Vauxhall station the other day, a long flight of steps reminded me of a few years ago when I was at the bottom of them with a heavy suitcase - having already come all the way by train from Dijon.
So I’m still so grateful to the lovely man who picked my case up without a word, and carried it up for me.

This happened to me outside Waterloo station.
My husband was already at the top of the steps, watching. I don't think he was even embarrassed 🙄

Grateful that Mr A went swimming yesterday and really enjoyed it, in spite of health problems. We are having a short holiday - very grateful that we are able to.

Gratitude to the lovely AA man who gave my OH a lift to the hospital after towing the car to the garage. Wish I could say the same for the ambulance driver that got me home but unfortunately not such a nice experience!

Gratitude that Im back home and not in hospital. Empathy for all the other people sitting in A&E for 10 hours waiting to see a Doctor and getting now sleep.

Thankful I took time to chat to and cheer up an elderly man in A&E who had been there all day asking if his accommodation was sorted yet :-)

Thank you crossstitchfan. I think we’ll all sleep a bit better tonight.

lixy

Today I am brimming with joy. My DS was made redundant suddenly in September. Today he has been offered a new job, one that he really wants to do too. So very pleased for and proud of him.

So happy for you and your son, I hope all continues to go well for him and the family.

Today I am brimming with joy. My DS was made redundant suddenly in September. Today he has been offered a new job, one that he really wants to do too. So very pleased for and proud of him.

Maremia what a lovely thing to share - thank you. My daughter has sent me a photo of me with a grandson years ago, cuddling up to me as I read to him from a picture book. Such a lovely memory.