Time for Mom during the Holidays & Helping the elderly lady at the grocery store

Today was the first day for my giving. I intended the first gift to be the time I offered to my mom to decorate for Christmas. Her tree has been up for an entire week with only one strand of lights on it. However, she's watched my kids for me twice this week. They're 6 yrs old and 8 months old. I knew she needed some help to get done, so I went over, helped get boxes out of the attic, helped to decorate, then helped to put them away. I was there longer than I thought I would/should be - there's plenty to do at home. At the end of our time, she spent the time to thank me and tell me how truly greatful she was for my help.

Later in the evening, I ran to the grocery store for milk & bread. There was an older lady in front of me who was shopping alone and had a cart full of groceries. She asked for someone to help her and they paged a stocker. While she waited, they checked me out, and the stocker was still not there. I offered to help her to her car and had a very nice conversation with her along the way. She also took special effort to thank me for helping, which I graciously accepted and returned her cart and went home.