The Hot Chocolate Stand in the Snow

After a big storm in January, my kids set up a hot chocolate stand at the end of our street, where people were walking home from the train station through the snow.

They had a thermos, a stack of paper cups, a bag of marshmallows and a sign that said "FREE HOT COCOA FOR COLD PEOPLE." They wouldn't take money. "It's for being nice," my youngest explained.

People were stunned. A man in a business suit stopped and drank a cup in the snow, smiling. A nurse coming off a shift almost cried. A group of teenagers asked if they could help and ended up staying an hour, handing out cups.

By the end of the evening, the kids had given away eighty cups. We made more batches in our kitchen. My kids came home with red cheeks and wet mittens and said it was the best snow day ever.