There’s always been someone there to come along and comfort me.
A kind word from a stranger, to lend a helping hand.
A phone call from a friend, just to say I understand.
And ain’t it kind of funny that at the dark end of the road.
Someone lights the way with just a single ray of hope.”
A local radio station WLIT FM in Chicago is granting wishes for Christmas. You can fill in a form online, tell them your wish, and they are choosing people every weekday to have their wishes granted usually in the form of money to buy gifts or to provide a nice Christmas dinner, or travel to see family far away. The past couple of times that my husband and I were out and about, I told him we needed to be home by 3:15 to receive the phone call to find out if they were going to grant MY wish. Needless to say, they haven’t called me yet.
But life has a way of working things out and what appear to be unanswered prayers sometimes aren’t unanswered, they just take a different form.
This morning I woke up to find a gift in my email inbox in the form of a Paypal deposit large enough to buy groceries for our family for nearly a month or ensure that Santa does not disappoint this year, or some combination of both. Last week I posted about our struggles this year in a post called: Kickin’ the Grinch to the curb. In that post I mentioned about how my husband is currently job hunting and that although we have very little to spend on Christmas this year, we are cherishing the fact that we are together.
Well, apparently some folks cared enough to grant us a wish this Christmas. Ironically, we’ve never met any of them. A fund raiser was organized for us by Toni from Photo Bug Baby and Marlene from Queen of the Click, and from what I gather they collected contributions from friends across the blogosphere and beyond using Twitter.
To say we are speechless and grateful would be understating how much we appreciate not only the gift but the fact they cared enough to help us. Toni, Marlene, and everyone who contributed to this brought so much Christmas spirit into our lives that words are simply not enough to express how we feel.
I am humbled by the generosity and this “single ray of hope” does more than merely buy food or gifts. It helps to renew our spirits so that we can appreciate the true meaning of Christmas. If you contributed, I’d love to know so I can thank you personally. If you prefer to remain anonymous, I completely understand, and I hope this is enough to express our gratitude.
There are angels among us this year…..
To teach us how to give
To guide us with a light of love”
Thank you Toni, Marlene, and everyone else who helped; from contributing to the gift to the kind words of support, you have all touched our hearts. Listen to the words of the song above and know, that in this moment, they are singing about you.
Merry Christmas
About Kim
You are a kind and generous person Kim. Of course we had to help bring some Christmas magic your way.
Wow, that is so wonderful. What great friends! Merry Christmas to you and yours! :)
kim, you do much good, you had no choice but to be blessed back.
trisha
As a Christian, I don’t believe in “karma” per se, but I DO believe that people get what they give (ok so yeah maybe that is believing in karma…um…not sure what else to call it). I have been visiting your blog for over a month now and I have seen you and your fellow bloggers give away so much at Christmas (through your sponsors), and although I have not won any of the giveaways here (I have won a couple other places), my Christmas has been made brighter knowing that so much good still exists in this crazy world. You are a blessing to so many, I am really happy that you were blessed in return!!!!
Merry Christmas!
Kim – I am so glad we could bring you some happiness and less worry this Christmas. I would do it again in a heartbeat :) Hugs to you and your family – MERRY CHRISTMAS :)
P.S. You touched me greatly. I’m not sure how to contact you (I’m new here) but I want to make you my “blog of the day”. There is a button on my site you can grab if you’d like to display it.
Cried here too. That’s so wonderful that strangers still know how to be kind.
There TRULY are good people are there :)
Thanks for sharing your story with us…you made me cry…good tears…
That’s outstanding! I love to see people do good just for goodness’ sake!LOL
Oh sweetie…that is so wonderful!! I am so very thrilled to see that there are so many kind and giving people in the world. Sometimes it is hard to be the recipient of the kindness but know that you have repaid that kindness to others in spades. Have a wonderful and well-loved Christmas! (And Ladies and Gents who helped my friend…thank you from the bottom of my heart!)