mmc67′s Secret Santa Goes Off Without a Hitch!

First of all I hope you all know just how much you did for the families we helped out. I remember when I was a little girl at the age that I questioned Santa’s existence. I asked my grandfather and he told me that perhaps Santa didn’t really wear a red suit and fly around with reindeer but, as long as there were those in the world with a giving heart then yes Santa did exist.

This year you all were Santa to two very deserving families. To say they were surprised is an understatement. I was a bit overwhelmed myself with the amount of money I was able to use on them. I also took the $100 that was to go to me and used that, all my shopping was done and I wanted to give them the best Christmas I could.

You can always tell the families who are really in need. They are the ones that, when asked what the children want for Christmas, give you a list that contains clothes, tub items and if any toys are listed it is something like Crayons and color books. I have come to realize this and that is why I also ask them to describe the child and what TV shows they like.

Because this Secret Santa program has been in place for sometime many of the local stores give us a discount so I was able to not only pick up a huge amount of toys and electronics for both families, I bought them each winter hats, coats, gloves and boots. The adults even got hats, gloves and a couple gifts.

For the family with the two little boys and the one girl I was able to find out the boys loved the Pixar movie Cars and loved doing art projects. I was able to find some awesome buy one get one half off for several Cars art sets. I also hit one of the stores when they had legos buy one get one half off. They both needed a sheet set so I looked around and found two complete bed sets on sale at a very good price. I also grabbed some books, hot wheels, sleds and a tag reading system for each. For the girl I found out she loved Dora. I bought her several Dora art sets, a Dora doll with accessories, a Dora table and Chair set, Dora bedding, several Crayola Sets, a baby doll with bed, some doll clothes and some princess dress up sets for her.

I got these items and so much more for this family.

For the second family I bought a lot of learning toys as the boy has Autism. I have been hearing all the great strides children with Autism are making with the use of Ipads and other tablets. A local store offered me one of the old Ipads for $150 so of course I jumped at it. I bought an Itunes card and put some music on it for him. I then went on a site that sells toys made for Children with Autism and bought a few things.

I figured the toys are fun but with that much money I would buy some things they could use to. For each of the families I picked up a gift card for $100 to a local Supermarket. I also thought they might enjoy a night out as a family so I bought a gift certificate to a local restaurant and movie theater. The family with the 3 kids was as excited about that as they was everything else. Seems the little ones love The Chipmunks and wanted to see the movie but it was not in their budget. When I handed the giftcard to the second family dad got tears in his eyes and said that he was trying to figure out how he was going to get fuel for heat and pay for groceries.

Each year, since I started the Secret Santa program, something has happened that makes all the work I put into it all year worth it. This year it was the generosity of the community at EdenFantasys. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, as do the families.

God Bless you all.