Let us outshine the random acts of violence in our world with random acts of kindness. I’m holding my girls even closer than usual this week, and trying to do my part.

One nice, small thing you can do for someone is to peel them a pomegranate. My parents have a pomegranate tree, and my dad has mastered this act of generosity after years of lovingly extracting the sweet seeds for my mom, and us, their children, and now my children. (When he left after a recent visit, my baby had learned to say “I wan’ mo’ pom-a-gran-ate.”) I’ve long relied on his expertise to avoid the task myself, but this week I had good luck scoring the fruit’s leathery exterior—without cutting into the juicy arils—and prying off the outer peel one section at a time. Releasing the seeds is slow, meditative, an act of love. J and I crunched the seeds by the handful, and my big girls happily ate them one at a time, sucking away the fruit and spitting out the tiny seed. What a luxury it is to be together, to eat a pomegranate together.

I’ll be posting here less often in the coming weeks, and spending more of my time delighting in my family’s company while the girls are out of school. May there be much happiness in your holiday season, and so much kindness in the world.