I see it every day….there are so many ways you can help out this Holiday season…
from charities like Water for Christmas…or Toys for Tots…or Feed my starving Children.
So much out there…so many places to give.
But…have you ever just looked around to who lives near you …
or what about someone you work with.
There are so many people struggling these days….i mean…really struggling.
I’m sure you remember me chatting about my sweet neighbor girl….i’ve written about
her a few times before.
Her single mom is raising her all alone…and even though she works full time..she is still struggling.
I can’t imagine.
Let me tell you how my heart was filled with joy when i went to my book club on Tuesday..
and every single one of my friends had bought gifts for my neighbor girl.
My friends took it upon themselves to open their heart and look local this year…
so this little girls could reap the joy of having oodles of gifts for Christmas.
Real gifts…..from their hearts.
Gifts that are going to make my neighbor girl sing with joy because of the love that was put into them.
Even one of my good friends talked to her church….
and that church decided to sponsor my neighbor girl and her mom for Christmas.
They paid her electric bill for the month…they bought her warm clothes…and put a smile on her face.
My heart is full today.
I watch my neighbor girl three days a week…i know what goes on in her home…
and i realize how much she means to us…..and am so thankful she was
put in our lives.
There are so many places to help this season…..
but sometimes just looking out your front door …and seeing what’s right in front of you..
is all you need to do.
that is what it’s all about my friend
so sweet
xo
SHe is cute!
Givertome.
Thanks for loving her and her mother and for your story about it here!
So wonderful that your friends did that for her and for you:) Now she will be warm and have a very Merry Christmas!
“Peace on Earth — Goodwill toward men” and neighbors !!!!
your an angel !!!
SO very true!! This is heartwarming…
Lou Cinda
Sweetness. Love this.
this is the REASON FOR THE SEASON! beautiful post…she is a blessing to you as you are to her, this is what it is all about kasey…thank you for sharing this, it is a reminder of why we are here!
Thank you for the beautiful post, this is what the season is all about! You are a sweet soul for making this little girl have the Christmas to remember!
Your story brought tears to my eyes. That is wonderful. One thing we work on in our home is giving back to others. You really have good friends around you to be so kind to help out your neighbor girl and her mom. That is what the season is all about.
Zizette
i saw a comment on a post… i think from your” just us” neighbor and she said that you have a big ole’ heart..
kasey you really do..so many that “have” tend to not see or care about what goes on in their own backyard for those that “have not”.
special is the soul that does.
and you are indeed one of those special souls.
blessings~
Bravo!
so so beautiful !
I totally agree! She’s a cute little dear.
Great post, it made me a little teary eyed.
What a lucky little girl to have so many wonderful people around her that care so much!
Kasey, thank you for this post. My wife and I are always discussing this exact issue, whether we should sponsor a child half way across the world or look in our own neighborhood.
In these hard economic times there are people right under our noses who are hurting. We don’t always see that they are struggling, well because no one wants people to know how hard they are having it.
So this year if everyone would take just one child, one person, and buy them one gift, it would make a difference. Not only in the receiver’s life , but it would also make a difference in our lives. Because all too often we become too selfish to look beyond our comfort level. And in helping others we ultimately help ourselves become more aware of those around us.
So call a shelter, ask your church or house of worship if there are any families who need help, give at those red buckets we see all over at this time of year……… just do something to make someone else’s Christmas a little merrier. Again thank you for sharing this wonderful post.
P.S. you have great friends………….
Christmas Blessings to you and yours
Curtis & Sherrie
Community is a beautiful thing…. what you said is so true. My oldest daughter {freshmen in high school} her fellow classmates in her English class have adopted a local family with 4 children who are in need of help. The parent’s of the children gave the class their childrens Christmas lists and the class organized the entire donations/shopping/wrapping times to be delivered on Christmas eve. I told my daughter that i’d pay for the gifts and she told me no…. she wanted to use her babysitting money to do it, that she didn’t need the money for anything as important as giving a Christmas to a family.
This little girl and her mom are very lucky to have such a great neighbor next door.
xo,
LuLu
Beautifully said and oh so true!! Thank you for reminding us!!
thank you.
What a wonderful thing for you and your friends to do! My children and I have always picked a few local children to sponsor Christmas for and it feels so right especially when you see the joy in their eyes. I also visit several elderly assisted homes to chat with my elderly friends and drop goodies off to them for the holidays, but the real treat is listening to all of their stories. Enjoy the season, Kasey - you are wonderful! xxoo
xoxoxxoxoxoxo
Aw that’s so sweet and you are so right.
Merry christmas to all of you!!!
I do reallY like what I read in your blog every single day, especially today!!!
xxxxxx, Monica
this is just beautiful & what CHRISTMAS should be all about!
what a blessing
xoxxo
amy
What a lovely lovely post.
Many thanks for sharing and inspiring.
Veronika
I love this. there is also wishuponahero.com and you can look locally. I am a member of cafemom.com and I do not get on a lot. but something the other day told me i needed to. i open cafemom and the first post is a mom asking how she can HIDE christmas from her two boys. i’m sorry WHAT? hide christmas!! no! she said she knows christmas is suppose to be about something different than gifts but to a 3 and 4 year old how could it be? how could she explain to them they get nothing?
oh my heart broke! needless to say i reached out to her and gave her my e-mail address and to please contact me and give me her address so i could send gifts! it took her a week to finally e-mail me because she felt ashamed! i told her to not feel ashamed! we did not get in the place we are in by ourselves! we had a lot of help. and i was more than happy to send her family a LOT of toys for her boys!! she e-mailed me last night saying how she kept getting boxes and boxes in the mail full of toys and she just couldn’t believe it! she knew i SAID i was going to send things but for me to actually do it over joyed her! the feeling of making their christmas amazing is like a high for me! it made my heart so happy! and I don’t know that i will ever stop sending her things!
Holly: Your story is touching. How wonderful of you and how good it must make you feel. Have a wonderful Christmas
So beautiful, so true, and so inspiring. Thanks.
Now that’s what Christmas is all about:)
Your heart is rich…and not just during the holidays. I wish you were my neighbor…but then we would be wine-buddies..but that would’nt be so bad either.
Stay rich,
Marlene
Kasey…so beautifully said…you are absolutely right…there are so many places to look right in front of us
amazing friends and neighbors you have
and so glad there are smiles to be put on their faces
xo
That is so wonderful! And that’s what Christmas is all about. Thanks for sharing with us.
This is such an amazing example!!!!!!!! my neighbor and I are helping out a family with three kids this year……and it is such a wonderful feeling!!!!!!!! thanks for the reminder! xoxo
Kasey, You are so sweet! I’m loving the little guys hair-do!!
xo, Meredith
Kasey,
Here is a huge *HUG*!!
Thank you for making someones Christmas bright!
xox
Evelyn
I can’t type very well because of the tears in my eyes! What a warm, generous bunch of
book club friends you have! Although I wasn’t part of the contribution I feel a deep sense of satisfaction
knowing the electric bill was paid and they have warm clothes to wear… thanks for sharing
such a beautiful story of generosity… Aren’t people great!
Thank you! I say this every year and truly believe in this! How wonderful you are to have helped this family and I’m sure this little girl will remember this forever.One day she will “pay it forward” because of what she has learned from you and your family.
Thank you for some true Christmas inspiration!
What a wonderful thing to do Kasey! Instead of Secret Santa at work this year we have adopted 2 families ~ we found out who they were today and will get their lists and be in shopping mode next week. We also just finished a toy drive and a hat/mitten tree ~ it is the most wonderful time of the year when you can reach out to those in need.
I’m a school nurse and we did our own angel tree this year helping families in our school who need help this year… we are also collecting everyone’s change (and 20′s) in a “Christmas jar” we are giving (without her knowing who it’s from) to one of our teachers aids who just got diagniosed with breast cancer… she works three jobs and is going through chemo… you are right, there is need right in front of us most of the time…
precious story~thank you for sharing
What a beautiful story! How happy you must have been when your group presented all those gifts! Your neighbor is lucky to have such a caring person as you living nearby.
Every year we start a change jar, filling it with change until the end of November. When it’s full (sometimes we fill two jars) we vote as a family on how we should use it. The first year we spent it all on a family getaway. But the next year we learned about a family in our town that was in serious financial trouble, and voted to give our change jar to them. From then on we have used our change jar to help a local family. While we still give to our church, and local food banks, and even national charities, I love knowing that our change jar has helped someone in need closer to home.
That’s what I’m talking about! Merry Christmas to you all ♥ Jacque
Kasey, this post is so touching. She is so lucky to have you and your sweet family in her life. I’m sorry I missed your call yesterday. I was helping in Jaxon’s class. I didn’t check the phone until later that night. I’ll give you a call soon.
Amen sweet friend. Your doing a great job with this precious child. She is both blessed by you, as well as I know she is a blessing to you and all of your family.
Thanks for the reminder to look closer to home; perfect for me as we head closer to Christmas. I’m inspired to help someone locally, so thank you.
A lovely post about the real meaning of Christmas.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
ok.. I took my first step to help a family. They have 6 kids so it’s going to be a challenge. Thanks for the inspiration…
How sweet of your friends to think of this little girl and her mom. That is awesome! Merry Christmas!
Right around the corner live 3 very sweet kids, Natalie, Jeremy and Quentin, with their very hard working single mom Andrea. Dad skipped out awhile ago. Last year someone ran a red light and Jeremy was in a coma for 6 weeks. Massive medical bills.
Now I haven’t had a paying job in over a year, but I can bake. So I regular bake and deliver. When I asked what they were asking for for Christmas I was met with “It would be nice to have a computer to help with homework and my brothers job search, but…you know.”
Yeah, I knew that our family really didn’t need TWO computers.
Man do we feel good.
I hope everyone who reads your blog stops to consider for a moment that perhaps someone right around the corner could use a bit of Christmas cheer.
That was just beautiful Kasey…thank you for those thoughts, for your heart, and the actions of you andall your friends. You .are. absolutely .right.
We are doing the same thing for a friend of ours. She just lost her job and her husband is out of work for over a year and her mom was in ICU for a while and just got out- Shes having it rough so we have taken her under our wing/wallet and knowing that this contribution will make her life much easier for a bit.
what a heart-warming post. Thank you for reminding me of what Christmas is all about - now I am thinking about what I can do in my part of the world.