Although the winner was chosen through the use of Random.org, I would like to repost his comment here:

This is a great way to keep it going! I love the pay it forward idea. I’ve waited all day to post about this because I wanted to give it some thought. The idea that I came up with was to have my 3 year old go to Walmart and look for gifts to place in the local giving tree at the hospital for a child in need of a christmas gift.

What a cool idea. This will not only pay it forward now, but it will help instill in the future generation a sense of giving and compassion!

Jason said that he will post the result of his daughter’s Pay It Forward, and I’ll be sure to pass the link on here as well. In the meantime, keep your eye on The Devoted Dad!

Way to go, Jason! Feel free to spend the money all in one place!  ;)

Yeah, it's the kids that stress me out. Riiiight...

Have you ever had one of those conversations that aren’t really about what you’re talking about? The true meaning is conveyed through innuendo and subconscious body language, etc. Sometimes we just blurt out a phrase that’s not the truth at all.

This morning, when the teenager woke me because she missed the bus, ‘You kids are KILLING me!’ was what popped out of my mouth.

We’ve all laugh at the sitcoms and comedies that depict a frazzled parent. As I add kids to my own family, that stuff gets even funnier.

Who could get mad at a 'Steampunk Mad Hatter?'

It was mostly in jest that I said ‘You kids are KILLING me!’ But it also had nothing to do with them…

The past three days at work have been nothing but, for lack of a better term, sheer hell. Murphy’s Law was not only in full effect, but it threw me on the ground, kicked me in the ribs, spit on me, picked me up and knocked me down again.

Nothing seemed to go right. The associates under me didn’t seem to want to follow direction, and what’s worse, they didn’t want to think for themselves and come up with their own solutions. For anything.

After 3 15-17 hour days of this, (without a full lunch break mind you, I’d finally break down and have to get something to eat and sit for 15 minutes) one gets a bit … irritable.

So when I got home last night, and Calli ran to me and said, ‘Daddy home!’, I was very happy to see her, but I also felt like collapsing into bed. So, as these things go, last night was one of those nights where she was awake every ten minutes asking for milk or a toy or just generally not wanting to sleep.

At one point I remember, in a sleep deprived haze, saying, ‘Can’t we just got to sleep?‘

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The thing that kept me going through those tough days of going in early and staying late was the fact that when I was done, I would be off for nine days of vacation. Awesome. The first day I planned on sleeping in until dinner time.

Alas, I have kids. So when Kat shook my foot, wrenching me from blissful slumber, and I saw her hovering over me, I knew it meant one thing: she missed the bus and needed a ride. Go away kid, ya bother me…

The point of this post isn’t to complain, rather, I’d like to point out the dangers of bringing home the attitude you may have gotten from work. Don’t take it out on the kids.

As a general rule, I don’t. I usually unload everything on my wife, (which is fair, right?) and play with the kids to relax. I don’t yell at them because I’m frustrated with something else … most of the time…

So I’m throwing this out into the Universe to remind myself, I’m off work now. I’m on vacation. Time to exhale!

**Don’t forget to enter the Pay it Forward giveaway! Simply click on my post Paying Forward A Random Act of Kindness. Tweet about it and comment and earn entries to win a $20 WalMart gift card!**

Haley Joel Osment in the wonderful 'Pay it Forward' film, demonstrating how this whole thing works...

An amazing thing happened to me yesterday. Calli, Tristin, and I were hanging out while my wife had to go to the doctor for a post-pregnancy checkup.

We wound up going to WalMart and Calli was being absolutely amazing. I’ve never seen such a sweet, well-behaved little girl! So I decided I’d treat her to a $5-$6 toy. Nothing too extravagant, but something to thank her for being so good.

We’re in what I call the pink aisle. You know, the one with Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony, and anything else that comes in a pink box. She said, ‘Daddy I want that one!’ about everything $20 and up. I said a couple of times, ‘Calli, I’m not trying to spend a lot of money.’ It truly wasn’t about the money, it was more about getting her not to want a $20 toy every time we step into a WalMart.

Another customer must have heard me, because she walked by and said, ‘Here,’ slipping something between the cart handle and my hand, ‘maybe this’ll help Daddy out.’

Not even looking, I tried to hand it back, ‘I really don’t need your money!’ I said, both astonished and embarrassed.

‘No.’ she said, backing away. ‘Buy her something.’ and she vanished faster than homemade rolls on Thanksgiving.

I looked down at my hand and got dizzy.

There was a twenty dollar bill staring up at me from my palm.

She had a kid in her cart, too. Not to pass judgment, but she didn’t look any more well off than me. (Though looks can be very deceiving in ski country.)

In this economy, I felt horrible excepting some kind of handout from a complete stranger.

But Calli and I picked out two My Little Ponies, and spent the $20 well.

So here’s what I want to do: Since I can’t pay that nice lady back, I would like to pay this random act of kindness forward.

I’m going to give a $20 WalMart gift card away here on my blog.

What You Have To Do:

Basic blog giveaway stuff, you get one entry per item below:

1. Tweet about the giveaway with a link back to this post.

2. Comment below how you would spend the $20.

3. Include in your comment how you would then pay this good deed forward. (Hint: This does not have to be monetary in nature, get more creative than I did!)

Earn 5 entries if you blog about Random Acts of Kindness or Paying it Forward, and include a link back to this blog. Be sure to comment here to let me know about your post!

I will use random.org to determine the winner. The deadline to enter will be Friday, November 13 (lucky, huh?) at midnight.

If you include your twitter handle in your entries I will

a) follow you for life, and

b) notify you by email and twitter DM if you win! (Another pay it forward, since I recently won a giveaway from Coupon Dad, and missed the email. He DM’ed me to let me know so I wouldn’t miss out on my prize! Thanks again, Coupon Dad!)

Incidentally, the WalMart gift card can come in two forms:

1) The eGift Card Instant gratification! You’ll receive the card through your email in 24-48 hours of winning. This card can be used at walmart.com only. If you choose ‘site to store’ as your shipping option, none of your gift card’s balance will go to shipping! You’ll simply pick up your merchandise at your local store when it arrives.

2) Snail Mail This will take a little longer to receive your winnings, but you’ll be able to use the card at any WalMart store.

For the FTC’s consideration: This giveaway is in no way endorsed or supported by WalMart. I simply chose a WalMart gift card because that is where the above related random act of kindness took place. The money is my own hard-earned cash that I am using to help spread a little holiday cheer…