Karen is a gifted pastry chef who, I believe, makes the most delicious baked goods on the planet.  Her creations include cakes, cookies, muffins, breads, and pastries.  However, her favorite things to make are pies.

A couple years ago Karen wanted to show her appreciation to someone she admired, so she decided to bake her a pie.  The lucky recipient was so pleased with the gift that Karen decided to take the giving a step further.  She resolved to bake a pie a day for a year (that’s 365 pies!), find a worthy person to give each to, and blog about it.  Thus, the Pie a Day Giveaway was born!  Her tag line was, ‘Expressing gratitude to friends, family and the Universe with a year of pies.’

So, for the next year, every single day, Karen found a person to appreciate, and baked him/her a pie.  She honored store clerks, non-profit agencies, service people of all kinds, strangers, friends and family. Anybody she came into contact with was a potential recipient.  The beneficiaries had no idea they were on her ‘pie list’ until she showed up at their door, pie in hand.

Karen was so committed to this appreciation project that even when she was on vacation in Mexico, or on a motorcycle trip to the Oregon Coast, she managed to find ingredients and a kitchen and bake a pie. She then found a deserving local person to share it with.  Her commitment and accountability to doing what she said she would regardless of the expense, inconvenience and organizational challenges was remarkable.

It seems to me that Karen’s Pie a Day Giveaway is a metaphor for what the holiday season is about.  She gave selflessly, with gratitude and appreciation, focusing on other people and how they would be positively affected by her actions.  She shared her talents with the gift of love, generosity and fun.  She carried the holiday spirit throughout the year.

For 12 months Karen showed this spirit with pies.  However, what’s more important is that Karen embodies that giving spirit all year long!  She is a loving, caring soul, who makes the world a beautiful, happy place wherever she goes.

So this month I’m reflecting on how I can live up to Karen’s example by being more loving, appreciative and generous, not only at Christmas, but all year long.

How about you?

Sandra Abell

Sandy is the author of Self-Esteem: An Inside Job and Moving Up To Management: Leadership and Management Skills for New Supervisors. She is an educator, speaker and a Licensed Professional Counselor. She specializes in working with executives, business owners, professionals, entrepreneurs and people in transition. Sandy publishes a free monthly newsletter entitled Focusing On Your Success. Please visit Sandy on her website at www.insidejobscoach.com