A Christmas Miracle

Year after year I am so impressed by the generosity of friends and family who pull together to make a family’s Christmas wishes come true. Mostly though I am impressed by my mother who takes on the alias of “Secret Santa” and spends hours and days of her December pulling together resources to provide gifts, clothes, food, money for electricity and more for adopted families in the community.

^Mom’s December Facebook Profile Picture^

This year she stretched above and beyond to adopt three families, all of different walks of life:

  • A selfless Single Mom who has lost her job due to grave illness with 2 Girls, Ages 7 and 10.
  • A proud and humble Family with 2 Boys, Ages 10 and 14
  • Another proud and hard working family with 2 Boys, Ages 8 and 10.

Mom reached out to her Facebook network and watched the love and joy spread like wildfire. People who had previously donated $25 gave more, people who had previously given $50 doubled that commitment. There was even a donation from across the country of $500 – W O W!

Some donated money which allowed my mom to mindfully shop for the families while others did the shopping themselves. The end result was overwhelmingly beautiful and I know that it was a labor of love to wrap all of these gifts for the children to open with wide eyes on Christmas morning.

As mentioned above, money was also allocated for electricity and food so that the families could live easier the days after Christmas with a reprieve from usual bills that may weigh them down.

My mom is a selfless hero and I admire her each and every day – especially when she’s operating undercover as Secret Santa!

What a beautiful sight!

❤ JE

Giving Feels Great

One of my Eight Great Goals for the month is to volunteer or help a family in need via food, money or clothing donation.

A week ago, my good friend sent an email to several of his close friends with an opportunity that fit my goal and I sprung at the opportunity to help. The original idea was to feed the chosen family of five for Thanksgiving, but I knew that I didn’t want to stick with the theme since I couldn’t imagine that the family would enjoy eating boxed mashed potatoes and canned cranberries through February.

I asked my mom if she wanted to be my partner in crime as she’s a seasoned veteran when it comes to adopting families over the holidays and she had plenty of ideas that would benefit the family long after the Thanksgiving holiday next week. We shopped on Saturday and came away with more groceries than I buy for myself in an entire month, which made me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside.

It’s beyond amazing how so little can go such a long way for a family in need. If you have the means and the motive, I urge you to find a way you can help a family in need this holiday season and pass the cheer forward.

❤ JE