My friend is a single mum with 3 children aged 7, 8 and 9. Coming up to Christmas she spent all she had on presents, food and decorations to make Christmas enjoyable for her kids. I asked her what she wanted for Christmas and looking at me blankly she said, “no one has ever asked me that before, who is there to buy presents for me?”
Buying 3 presents I knew she would like, I arranged for her kids to be at my house. Each one chose a present and we wrapped them together, writing ‘To Mum’ on each tag. The presents remained a secret until Christmas Eve when the kids took the presents home, overwhelmed with excitement they handed them over straight away. On Christmas Eve my friend rang me in tears to say thank you.
Christine x
Having survived as a self-employed photographer for 3 years, just before Christmas my work dried up. My wife’s hours had been reduced and with Christmas approaching it was looking bleak. After using our savings to live on, we were finally at zero. We spoke to the kids – warning them not to expect much – and sat down to discuss how we were going to make it to January.
The following week, out of the blue, we received 2 gifts from people unaware of our situation. A friend explained he was expecting a tax refund that he planned to use for Christmas, but felt God ask him to give it away. Then a neighbour turned up with a Tesco gift card with more than £150 on it. We had money to buy presents for the kids and food for the week…I cannot begin to explain how thankful we were.
Martin
As a teenager in the 1970s, myself and a few friends wanted to give something back. Through door-to-door carol singing, we raised enough money to buy presents for a local children’s home. I remember our group sitting in Wimpy excitedly wrapping up boxes of Lego and games and delivering them on Christmas Eve. It felt great on Christmas day to know that a few of those kids were getting new gifts to unwrap that day.
Debbie
Waiting to have my badly broken arm mended, I was in hospital on Christmas week in a queue of other ice breakage victims. I watched everyone tuck into a turkey dinner as I was finally wheeled down to theatre. Being in hospital over Christmas was an eye opener, an experience made bearable by some incredible people – the staff! Bearing in mind how few were on duty, they were happy, loving and above all kind.
An off duty surgeon dressed up as Father Christmas and brought all of us, not just the children, a present. Carol singers rang out and the radio station paid us a visit. I vowed that year to stop over every Christmas dinner, to toast and to pray for those who work on Christmas day and for the sacrifice of their families. I left hospital wanting to do more with my life, to give back more.
Kirstie
My husband and I will be going to a wedding this Christmas, but our own wedding was different from most. Wanting to challenge the average £14,000 wedding spend, we decided to try spending nothing, donating the money instead to help build a counselling centre in Russia. We borrowed wedding clothes, used family rings, invited our guests to bring food to share, and walked to the church. Friends took photos, provided music and brought flowers, the congregation sang ‘ding dong’ to save paying bell-ringers and we hitchhiked to honeymoon in my family’s house in Scotland.
Instead of gifts, guests donated money to buy items for the charity whilst we donated the equivalent cost. This year, our tenth wedding anniversary, we wondered how to celebrate? Inspired by the generosity of a boy who gave his lunch to feed 5,000, we decided on a big picnic. We invited our friends, including a family who run a project in Nicaragua, enabling communities to lift themselves out of poverty, which we visited just before Christmas five years ago. We invited everyone to take part in our quiz, ‘Who wants to be a millionaire anyway?’ For every correct answer we donated money and gave what we saved. We shared two bags of crisps between 50 people, and invited donations instead of cards or gifts. At another celebration, we shared one cupcake between 19 people, raising around £1500. Christmas reminds me of God’s amazing generosity and love, this Christmas we’re excited to join the celebration of giving all over again.
The Bride
Christmas is a difficult time for those in debt with many staring at empty cupboards, wondering how they will feed their families this Christmas. Along with the other staff at Christians Against Poverty, I recently made up some Christmas hampers for our clients. It was such a great feeling to know how much this will transform and bring together families this Christmas.
Chabu
After a long, financially difficult year, I realised I couldn’t afford a Christmas tree. I knew my boys wanted one, but they were old enough to understand why we couldn’t have one. To me the Christmas message was miraculous and wonderful (even without all the trimmings), but after seeing Christmas trees through neighbour’s windows it was hard not to wish we had one. One night I came home from work to find two trees on my doorstep. One was from my younger sister, the other from a teenage friend of my son, who had even bought baubles and tinsel for us to decorate it with! I couldn’t pay for them or return the favour, but I decided to try and find someone else who was struggling to buy a tree.
At work the next day, a colleague told me her parents were also planning a stripped-back Christmas due to financial difficulties. I explained I had two trees and suggested she take one and surprise them with it. And so that evening, she did. That Christmas was special, and not just because we had an unexpected tree. I often wonder if the people who gave me the two trees knew how far their generosity would go. The thread of kindness that connected four families reminded me of the supernatural generosity at the heart of Christmas.
Jessie
