The season for giving

I love Christmas. I love the electric feel in the air. I love giving presents. I love making and delivering cookies and stuff to make people fat. I love everything about it.

Especially helping those in need.

Every year since I was 15 and had my own job, I choose a child or family off of the Salvation Army Angel Tree. This year was the first year I didn't do it. Instead, my fiance and I decided to help someone we knew (well, I knew) because there are so many more people struggling this year because of the lack of jobs and crappy economy.

We chose to help a lady I work with. We'll call her Pat. Pat's husband lost his job earlier this year. She has a son in highschool. They are an older couple, and they live in a trailer park. Somehow, Pat has been supporting her family off of $9.15 an hour for a few months now. She's seriously amazing.

I got the idea to help her this Christmas when we were talking sometime in early November. I asked her if she was getting excited for Christmas. Her whole persona changed and she looked upset; like she might cry, which was totally weird for her because she's not an emotional person at all. She looked and me and said, "I told my son there's not going to be a Christmas this year. He said he understands, but it's hard for a boy his age". With that, she walked away. My heart broke for her.

I don't have a lot of money, and neither does my fiance. I am a full-time student, and though my fiance has graduated college, neither of us work really high paying jobs. We make due with what we can, but we are always happy to help others. I make handmade cards with my aunt for her to sell. We went to a craft show, and she donated some of the money to Pat and her family. It was sooo nice.

We ended up buying 2 gift cards for groceries, a gift card to Game Stop for Pat's son because he liked to play video games, and a gift card to IHOP for a family dinner out. I was excited, and I hoped it made their Christmas a little easier.

Pat is not the type of person to take handouts, no matter how badly her and her family are victims of their circumstances. I hoped she wouldn't get mad at me for wanting to help her. She doesn't like help, even if it's with the best of intentions. I wanted to try anyway because I really admire her and think her family deserves bit of cheer this holiday.

I handed Pat a card with a special message inside and all the gift cards last week right before she left work. Today, at work, another employee handed me a yellow envelope with my name on it. It was a card from Pat and her family. It was one of the sweetest cards I've ever recieved. I feel blessed and it totally made my evening to know that maybe, just maybe, their Christmas won't be terrible afterall.