upworthy

sia

Instagram / Sia & Twitter / gisellenjh

The holidays are all about counting our blessings and giving to others for no reason other than it's the right thing to do. Recently, Sia captured the essence of the season by taking a shopping spree like no other.

The day before Thanksgiving, Sia went into a Palm Springs Wal-Mart and payed for the purchases of several shoppers. Sia's real name is Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, but on that fateful day, she told shoppers her name was CiCi and had just won the lottery, which was why she was in a giving mood.


A video shows Sia hugging shoppers and posing for photos at the checkout line.

At the Wal-Mart, Sia swiped her card, paying for the items of one customer, then asked the grateful shoppers, "Who's next?" One woman gave Sia flowers as a way to say thank you for buying her groceries.

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Sia is known for covering her face with a giant wig, so she was able to commit her random act of kindness without being recognized. Some fans had no idea the person purchasing their products was the Australian singer until they checked the news.



But she wasn't able to fool everyone. Some fans were able to figure out that the person picking up their tab was the "Chandelier" singer. "So @Sia paid for my groceries today thank you so much!! The heart and beautiful soul you have for paying for everyone!! I'm sorry for telling everyone once I realized who you were !! But this kindness must be acknowledged!!!" wrote on fan on Twitter.





Sia also pulled the same stunt at TJ Maxx.



Even fans who weren't there were touched by Sia's random act of kindness.



Even Wal-Mart was thankful for Sia's generosity.


RELATED: This grandma accidentally invited a teenager to Thanksgiving in 2016, now it's a tradition

One fan wondered if Sia was also behind an anonymous $1 million donation to the Ehlers-Danlos Society. Sia, along with Lena Dunham and Jameela Jamil, has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which is a group of inherited disorders affecting the connective tissues. People who normally have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have overly flexible joints and fragile skin.


It's majorly cool of Sia to take the time to do something nice like this. Those people must have had a lot to be thankful for when they sat down for turkey the next day!

Crowds of people rushing to airports over the weekend weren't in a hurry to catch flights — they were making a mad dash for democracy.

Protesters at New York's JFK airport show what they think of the executive order. Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images.

In response to an executive order issued by President Trump that restricted travel from seven countries, thousands of people showed up at airports in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Boston, and other cities. They brought signs, demanded that those detained be let go, and cheered as people were released.


Not everyone was able to get to an airport, but that didn't stop them from getting involved from home.

While the American Civil Liberties Union was busy filing a suit against the Trump administration arguing the executive order was unconstitutional, hundred of thousands of people were putting their money where their Twitter retweets were by making online donations to support the organization.

People with slightly more money to donate, like singer/songwriter Sia, venture capitalist and occasional "Shark Tank" shark Chris Sacca, and producer/director Judd Apatow offered to match donations made to the ACLU up to a certain amount, allowing people to double the impact of their donations simply by tweeting proof of their contributions.

In one weekend, the ACLU received significantly more money than it usually does in one year.

As reported in USA Today on Sunday evening, the ACLU received more than 350,000 online donations totaling over $24 million since Saturday morning. The wave of online donations just goes to show that there are more ways to protest than showing up in a physical location and holding a kick-ass sign (although that certainly helps).

A protester at JFK holds a simple, kick-ass sign. Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images.

In the past few weeks, millions have turned out at protests around the country, but the airport protests against the Muslim ban — and the ACLU successfully securing a temporary stay on it — were a good reminder that there are forms of protest available to people who can’t show up in person.

Your voice, your donation, and your presence matter. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not helping the cause if you can’t get to a physical location. Just do what you can with what you have, wherever you are.