Holiday Magic

Another day filled with writing letters from Santa (soooo close to done I can taste it – trying to decipher a few really hard ones that kids wrote that are left).  MORE Amazon deliveries (including the coveted collectibles that a very special child requested that this elf feared might be late, but the holiday gods shone down and they were delivered even quicker than the specialty website said they would be).

I put out an ELF EMERGENCY call for people to come wrap and elves came running.  Seriously, so many beautiful people have contributed to this amazingly huge effort.

And the Amazon woman.  Oh, the Amazon woman.

She brought a verrrry big delivery a couple of weeks ago.  As she hauled box after bag after box after box to the front porch (not to worry, I helped her carry), we talked.  I explained the Santa Project, and let her know that her hard work of delivering all of these gifts was going to make a LOT of children happy.  I asked if she had kids.  Turns out she has 2.  “Well, they deserve gifts from Santa!  What are their names, ages, and what would they like??” I asked.  She smiled, answered my questions, and gave me her phone number.  I said I would let her know when they were ready to be picked up.  Ironically, of course, they were ordered from Amazon, the very company she delivers for (as a contractor, Amazon doesn’t hire drivers apparently). 

 

She did another delivery here a couple of days ago and rang the doorbell to pick up the promised gifts, only they weren’t wrapped yet (and Santa hadn’t written their reply letters either).  She figured she would be delivering in the area again, no worries.  Only, the next time she came back, same problem – not ready.  I felt so bad.  “Hey, where do you live?  We will DELIVER them,” I told her.  “Maryland…” she answered, making it sound like it must be a part of Maryland not too close to us.

 

We finally had the gifts ready and arranged a time for her to grab them at the end of her route in the area, but she was busy and forgot.  Yesterday when we talked she said she would make a trip out to our house to get them today.  “The 10 B bus runs right by your home.”

 

Wait, what?  She drives and makes deliveries for a living, but will take the bus to our home? 

 

That’s when I realized that she has always been in a rental van when she delivers…  I bet she spends her own hard-earned money to rent a van to work.

 

She called from the train as she was on her way over today, and that’s when I realized, I had made gifts for her sons (really cute hoodies and a cool Star Wars hologram-like puzzle) but no gift for HER.  That had to change.

 

I quickly wrapped up something special just for her; body spray, a very fancy chocolate bar, fancy lip gloss, and a really pretty bracelet.  I put some decorative items on top of the package, then sat down for the most important part: writing the letter from Santa.

 

So many of the letters are difficult to write.  Sure, there are the easy replies to kids who just say, “I’ve been good, please give me x, y, z…”.  But what to reply to the Ukrainian girl who asks for an end to the bloodshed (her words)?  What to reply to the child who just got placed with a foster family and has nothing?  And what to reply to the extremely hard-working woman who is taking a bus a long distance to pick up gifts for her children??

 

I composed the letter and was proud of the result.  It said what it needed to say – encouragement, compassion, respect, and empathy for how difficult it must be to raise two young black men in this country. 

 

I had all of the gifts under the Community Tree of Celebration when she arrived.  We greeted one another, and I realized that I needed to get a plastic bag for her to transport the gifts as it was raining.  I ran in, grabbed a big blue Ikea bag, and brought it out to her.  She was holding one gift – the shared gift for the two boys, the puzzle.  “Oh, that bag is way too big!” she said, “I just need a grocery bag,”.  I turned to the tree and pointed to the other gifts, “But those are all for your family”. 

 

She hadn’t realized and was taken aback.  “Really??  You are gonna make me tear up!”. 

 

We picked up the presents and put them in the big blue bag, then covered that with garbage bags for good measure.  As we worked, we talked.  She said she has the next few days off work, then will start back up again.  We talked about Amazon returns, and she said, “If Amazon won’t take it back, you can give it to someone else!!  Or give it to the Salvation Army, they are GOOD PEOPLE.  They helped me a LOT!”.

 

She went on to explain how the Salvation Army came to her home when she was on government assistance and saw that she had no furniture.  “It was just me and one son then, but the Salvation Army gave him a bed, gave me a QUEEN SIZE BED, 2 dressers, an antique rocking chair and rocking footstool…” and on and on she went, explaining in detail with a gleam in her eyes all of the magical things that were bestowed on her, things that she couldn’t buy because furniture is so expensive.  She was so very grateful.  “Then, guess what??  They gave us 4 TVs!!  4!  For only 2 people!  And I told them that was too many, but they said, ‘Then sell them!’  But no, I didn’t feel right selling them after they were given to me.  So, do you know what I did?  I gave them away as Christmas gifts!!  I gave one to someone I knew.  The other, I walked up to a stranger’s house.  I put a note that said, “Merry Christmas from Santa” on the tv, and I left it right in front of the door!!”. 

 

What magic!!  This woman who I was trying to surprise with a gift had herself spread the very same magic to a stranger herself!!!

 

“And do you know what?” she went on.  “Those people I gave that tv to – they had Ring doorbell video of me, and they tried for two years to find me to thank me!!  They hired a private investigator!  He found me through social media and came to serve me a warrant.  Only, he said that the warrant said I didn’t need to show up in court, I needed to go to an address listed on it”.  Well, she went to the address, and the people who she had gifted the television to were so happy to finally know who had been their magical Santa.

 

When she was ready to leave, I popped inside and grabbed an umbrella for her (we have brand new ones from Kindness Activist to give to people in just this kind of situation – everyone deserves an umbrella in the rain). “Hey!!” she smiled at me, “You just gave me my very favorite color!!”.  Meant to be.

 

What a beautiful soul.  Working so very hard.  Traveling quite a distance to pick up gifts for her kids who she obviously adores. 

 

I hope she is surprised when she realizes that one of the gifts is for her.  I think she will be.  And I hope that the letter from Santa will extend her belief in the magic of the season and give her strength to keep on keepin’ on. 

 

Note:  I asked if I could share this selfie we took on social media and she said yes.  She is a terrific ambassador for KINDNESS (and for Amazon).