Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas spirit alive and well in Calgary

[Names and specifics left out to protect their privacy] A very well to do neighbourhood in Calgary has an association. This association has a Christmas party every year. This year, like most others, they invited children from a home in the area. This home is a facility for children who, for whatever reason, do not have a regular family they can live with at this time. Anyway, the party had prizes to give away to participants of the event. Ten of those prizes were huge baskets of gifts for kids. We're talking some sweet gifts people.

So two of those gift baskets were won by children from the special home. These are kids who weren't even invited by their original families to spend Christmas at home. Troubled kids they are, but the home insists that families at least take them back into their homes for this one special day per year. In many cases the birth parents refuse this simple request. So, with that in mind, it's not hard to imagine that the kids who won the gift baskets were so thrilled that they actually had presents, they cried. After all, it is very likely that under the circumstances, these kids might not get anything at all for Christmas.

What happened next was pure joy. One of the other eight children who won the remaining gift baskets, seeing the reaction of the unfortunate kids from the home who won a prize, decided right then to donate his prize to another kid from the home who did not win anything. This prompted the rest of the kids, all from wealthy families by most standards, to donate their prizes as well - on their own accord. At the end of the evening, every child from the home went home with gifts. And they were beaming.

So to anyone who says the spirit of the holidays is dead..........

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