The time we saved a family's Christmas.

[Hillbilly77]

I'm telling this story to hopefully be inspirational.

My point of telling this story is to show that no matter how small or insignificant a gesture or deed, it is still worth doing. You may just inspire the next person to do the next good deed, and maybe start a chain reaction of good.
With all of the things that divide us, the things that bring us together don't get much airtime.


A few years ago, 2 days before Christmas, Mrs. Hillbilly was on the phone with a friend of hers.
Her friend was talking about a local family that we all knew (small town, kids in school together, etc.). She told Mrs. Hillbilly that the family had fallen on hard times, with the breadwinner dad being laid off just before Christmas. This family has 2 proud, hard working parents and sweet, well behaved kids. They are all good people.
Things are tough for many families around here, living paycheck to paycheck, struggling just to get by. With the loss of a job, a family can get financially devastated pretty fast.
That being said, they were having a hard enough time just paying bills and keeping food on the table. Groceries and bills made it so they had no money left to buy any presents for the kids - all the kids were still at Santa Claus age.

The thought of these young kids not getting a Christmas from Santa was heartbreaking. I looked at our own tight finances and I figured up that we could spare about $100 and still get by ok until payday. I told Mrs. Hillbilly, "Go take $100 out and do what you can to get those kids some gifts. We'll wrap them and deliver them to the family for Christmas."
Mrs H. was so excited that she called up her friend and told her the news and asked her to come shopping with her. When her friend's husband heard about it, that inspired him to tell his wife, "I think we can spare $100, too. Go get those kids some presents."
So the next day (that day being Christmas Eve), Mrs Hillbilly and her friend set out to the store on a mission to stretch $200 as far as possible.
When they came back, they had toys, candy, stocking stuffers, etc. It's amazing how far two frugal women on a mission can stretch 200 bucks! They had bag after bag of goodies for those kids. They wrapped every present and Mrs. H's friend called the mom, telling her what we had done.
At first the mom choked up and tried to refuse, saying they didn't want to feel like they were taking a handout. They told her it was nothing of the sort. We all know how hard they work and bad luck can happen to anybody. Tearfully, she accepted.
We dropped the bags of wrapped presents off that night, after their kids had gone too bed.

I helped carry everything to the front door. There were thanks, hugs, and tears. The dad looked on in disbelief. The mom was in awe. To them it was a true Christmas miracle.
The women seemed like they needed a minute to talk among themselves, so I bade them a Merry Christmas and good night and went and sat out in my truck.

Mrs. Hillbilly came out a few minutes later, still with tears in her eyes. We drove home to our own Christmas Eve.

I used to dislike Christmas - I especially couldn't stand Christmas music. After having kids, I was able to tolerate Christmas.

Something happened to me that night. The feeling I felt as I drove home was the first time that I can remember feeling the true Christmas Spirit.
I drove home on Cloud 9.
Since then I have come to enjoy Christmas, music and all.

So, the moral of this story is to go do something nice for somebody - no matter how big or small the gesture.
You just may inspire the next person to follow suit, and you will definitely reap the benefits yourself.

Merry Christmas to all and may God bless you and yours!

[Protocall_Design]

Great story, Hillbilly. Thanks for sharing! That is what Christmas is really about - helping each other get through life.

I wish everyone on the planet could forget about their differences and care about each other (all year). Life is not about color, religion, politics, etc.
It's about behavior.

[MSgt G]

You made a difference in the lives of many people. Thank you and God bless you!

[Sistema1927]

"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” - Acts 20:35, ESV

[targetchief]

Well done. Like I said in the cheap friends thread, the most fun you will ever have with money is giving it away.

[Doug627]

We never give without receiving. We usually receive more than we gave. Thank you for giving when needed. I believe you will receive for the rest of your life for this act of kindness.

[Hillbilly77]

One more thought on this family.

Their trouble was, thankfully, fairly short-lived. They have since recovered from their struggle. They have improved their situation overall through hard work and perseverance.
The husband landed a better job making better money. They have since moved into a nicer house and seem to be doing well.
Mrs. Hillbilly still maintains a casual friendship with the mom, and Baby Hillbilly is still friends with their daughter. The kids get together when they can - playing, sleepovers, etc.

I don’t know if they ever think back on that night, nor would I ever ask them.
I think back about it sometimes, with a grateful heart.
That night changed me for the better and no plastic toy wrapped in colorful paper can compare to that.

I try to live my life in the service of my fellow man.
I try to do good for people as I go through life.

Of all my good deeds, I’ve reaped the best inner reward from that one, and it is my favorite.

[ladder13]

Merry Christmas to the Hillbillies.

[Rustyt1953]

Originally Posted by ladder13

Merry Christmas to the Hillbillies.

That sure narrows it down.

[rubiranch]

Christmas is the season for giving.

Hopefully the greatest gift they could have received from your gift was that Christmas was learning the true gift of giving and hopefully passing it on to others.

[Farmer17]

Our Church gives out a lot of gifts at Christmas and there are enough bicycles and wrapped gifts in the lobby for hundreds of kids and we give some money and enjoy getting the tax deduction but an energy company laid off 800 people in a small town near us 3 weeks before Christmas and and I felt compelled for some reason, to help someone out this year directly and anonymously. I told my men's group at church and a few guys wanted to help out also so we found a single mom with 3 kids who was unemployed. We came up with about $500 dollars and one of the guys wives used all her coupons and bought a bunch of clothes for the entire family from Old Navy and also bought toys and some gift cards for the mom to buy groceries. Everything was placed on the woman's porch and the doorbell was rung and someone watched from a long distance to make sure the woman opened the door and found the presents. That's the end of the story and we don't know if it helped their Christmas or not but I would like to think it did.