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The following is a guest post by Lynnae from Being Frugal.net, a blog about frugal living and getting out of debt. If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to Being Frugal’s RSS feed.
When I was growing up, my family didn’t have a lot of money. I never really knew it, because we always had a lot of fun. But Christmas was always a struggle for my parents.
My mom always scrimped and saved, so she would have enough money to buy gifts for us four kids. Some years were worst than others. We always knew it was a rough year when we opened our presents to find socks, or worse…the dreaded underwear.
When I was about 12, my family had a particularly bad year. My mom didn’t know how she was going to pay for Christmas presents. She warned us ahead of time that it was going to be a lean Christmas.
I’m sure I felt a little disappointed, though I don’t remember that now. But one day shortly before school let out for the Christmas holiday, I came home to find that I had three presents under the tree. So did each of my brothers.
I asked my mom where they had come from. She told me that an unknown man, a total stranger to me, had heard about the hard times our family was experiencing, and had blessed us with an abundance of Christmas gifts.
On Christmas Eve, as was tradition in my family, we opened our gifts. One of my gifts from this man was a simple jewelry box. I’m sure it wasn’t expensive, but it was beautiful. It had a glass door with painted flowers on the glass.
I remember being so touched by the generosity of that stranger. I kept that jewelry box for 24 years. I finally gave it away a couple of years ago, because I didn’t have a lot of space, and I don’t wear jewelry. But that jewelry box was a daily reminder of the impact of the kindness of a stranger.
I’m sure that man has no idea how much his generosity impacted my life. To this day, I don’t know who he is, and I never had the opportunity to thank him properly.
If I could talk to him, I would tell him that his gift changed me forever. Since I’ve grown up, I try to give of my time and money to others who are hurting. Even now, when things aren’t going especially well financially in my own life, I know that even a small act of kindness can go a long way towards impacting the life of another.
This Christmas season I encourage you to be generous. Give to a family that isn’t able to afford Christmas presents for themselves. It’s not so much about the material present. It’s about showing that in this world where things often go wrong, there is hope. People are kind, and strangers care. You never know who’s life you will impact forever.
Thanks Lynnae for the guest post!
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Posted: December 8th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Thanks Lynnae for sharing, I enjoyed your story.
Posted: December 8th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
That’s beautiful.
Posted: December 9th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
I have been touched by the gentle nature of people who give gifts or money at christmas it was part of my life growing up in Australia…I am now in a positon that i make sure every year I donate food and or toy’s to make anohter childs christmas a good one. I make sure my kids know that they are lucky to have so much when most have so little.
Thank you so much for sharing I am happy to know that somene elses life was changed for the better as well through the kindness of strangers
Posted: December 10th, 2007 at 9:49 am
That story is very humbling to me. I guess I always hope that the presents I buy are appreciated by the children and adults I buy for, I never imagined that they meant that much. Thank you for sharing this story.
Posted: December 12th, 2007 at 6:49 am
What a touching story.
I am sure everytime you remembered the stranger’s kindness, some bell would have gone off somewhere and some good would have happened to him.
24 years later you can remember this event in such detail. I’ll bet that you won’t be able to remember the “most urgent, must do now” thingy that happened in your office, say 3 months ago.
It’s events like getting your jewelry box that should really set our priorities in life.
Thank you sharing this with us.
Posted: December 12th, 2007 at 9:01 am
[...] The Generosity of a Stranger Shhh… I’m thinking of doing something like this for a particular family this Christmas. (@ blogging away debt) [...]
Posted: December 12th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I just have to share my story-
This year, we were shocked to discover our family qualifies for Christmas bureau presents. A family of 6 (two moms, 4 kids) on my income= poverty level to some, but not us. We are very blackbelt frugal- and consider ourselves blessed in many ways. We buy presents and sock them away from June thru December- our 4 kidlets get their Xmas wishes and then some. We keep a big box of extras available for birthday party giving too.
Anyhow- our church has a “giving tree” for those less fortunate in its inner city neighborhood. Tags on a Christmas tree indicate the age, gender, and top 3 wishes of the child. Folks i nthe church buy a present and bring it in unwrapped- so the parents can give to the child. This year, our church had not enough people taking tags and bringing in the gifts. My partner is our church’s council president. WHen she heard of the problem, she took all 20 tags and advised our pastor she would find a way for all the kids. (I didn’t marry rich- but man oh man did I marry well or what?).
She brought those tags home Monday and had a talk with our kids (ages 8 1/2, 5, 2 1/2, and infant). The two oldest agreed- all the birthday party box was emptied to fill some wishes- then they each went into their rooms and came up with gifts that were at as good as new status. The bookcases were checked through for books to pass on. The craft cupboard was checked for supplies yet unopened. By the time I came home from work, all 20 wish tags had been granted. We also decided to spring for hats and mittens to gift each child- available thru the Dollar Store. So hubby went and spent $40 for all the kids.
I can barely type without welling up from bursting with pride at my family’s love and spirit of giving. This is the best Christmas evah- seeing my kids and hubby do this.
Posted: December 12th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
[...]Lynnae from Being Frugal.net wrote a guest post on Blogging Away Debt about the kindness a stranger did her family when she was a child. It’s a heart-warming story [...]
Posted: December 31st, 2007 at 12:41 am
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I have always been truly blessed and at Christmas my children were always required to take an angel from the tree and fulfill that childs wishes. They took great pride in their purchases and always chose very well. I hope that they will continue the tradition with their children. If not then Grandma will. That is what it is all about.