John Samford's Blog

It’s Christmas eve morning and we woke up to find that we were out of coffee. So I took Scarlett (the Irish Setter shown below) to chase the ball in the park and stopped at Starbuck’s on the way home. In the drive-thru lane, I ordered two pounds of House Blend (close to $22) and waited my turn to reach the window.

When I got to the window, they handed me my bag and said “Merry Christmas”. I held out the money and she said, “Don’t worry about it. The guy in the car in front of you paid for yours.” Dumbfounded, I asked her who it was and she replied: “I don’t know. He just said to tell you Merry Christmas.”

It made my Christmas. I have no idea who it was and I don’t think he knew who I was either. However, I had been in line for several minutes and I had noticed the Alabama sticker on his rear window.

So I recommend that everyone commit some random act of kindness today. You will make someone else’s Christmas great.

Merry Christmas to everyone. And War Eagle.

Update on Friday, December 24, 2010 at 11:47AM by

John Samford

Here’s a little better picture of our crazy redheaded dog:

Update on Friday, December 24, 2010 at 04:51PM by

John Samford

The 2000 movie “Pay it Forward” was about a young boy’s charitable pyramid scheme where, if someone does a nice thing for you, you pay it forward rather than paying it back. Still thinking about my Starbuck’s experience this morning, I just went to the grocery to get Pampers for the grandkids. I was feeling bad for all of the people working there on Christmas Eve including the lady checking me out and the guy bagging groceries for her, so after I was checked out, I handed her $22 and told her to split it with the guy. They both just stared at me as if they couldn’t quite believe it. “Merry Christmas”, I said. So do something nice for someone random this Christmas and maybe we can start a movement.