Saturday, December 21, 2013

Christmas Spirit

Chaos and Cato last year
I am up way too early to work on the book that's due in a few days and need to get busy, but I wanted to share something that happened to me last night at Costco.

I'd gone there to do some final shopping for the family the kids' 4H club adopted because today, Saturday, is delivery day. One of the club's service project each year is to adopt a family at Christmastime and provide them with presents, food and household essentials. I had a two page list of items requested for the mom and her four children so brought that with me to see what I could find that might work.

Beauty in her "cat" tree
I'd gotten a smokin' deal on a Barbie RV through a Kindle Special Offer earlier in the week so my first stop was the toys to get a Barbie to go with it. A woman was looking at them, too, and said I was lucky my kids gave me a list. I told her it wasn't my kids' list, but a family the 4H club had adopted for Christmas. She asked to see the list so I showed her it. She said she'd been wanting to do something like this, pulled out her wallet and handed me $15 cash to cover the Barbie doll.

I was so surprised and very touched. As soon as I had the money, she walked away and I never saw her again. I held the $15 with the list while I shopped. I'm sure it looked weird, but I didn't want to stick the money into my pocket or purse. When I paid I handed over the cash first and told the cashier what happened. Her smile matched my own! 

There is Christmas spirit out there! And I really appreciate the woman at Costco showing me that last night and giving me a taste of the Christmas magic I write about.

Padden needs our help!
And in the spirit of Christmas, if you have time, could you please help me spread the word about Padden via your social media? Padden is a sick cat in need of surgery. I was contacted by the shelter I foster for and asked if I would use Miss Mousie's Facebook page and blog to help fundraise for his medical care! Here's a link to Miss Mousie's blog with some more info and where you can donate. Thanks so much!