wow what a moving story. brought tears to my eyes. we faced a similar christmas our second year as a family. my hubby was in the military and our children were 6 and 2. a friend of ours gave us a call and asked were we going to be home christmas eve at luch time. i said that we were if she would like to stop by that we would be happy to see her. at lunch time we heard her car pull up. followed by 3 pick up trucks. the trucks were driven by members of our local volunteer fire department members. in the back of the trucks was loaded with gifts for everyone including enough food for a couple of weeks. all i could do was cry and thank everyone as they made numerous trips to the trucks to bring everything in. i have never forgotten the generouristy of those people and have always tried over the years to pass it on. This year we gathered clothes for a newly divorced mom of 4 so her kids could have nice things to start school with. their father is a low life. for christmas my best friend who lost her job this year we made food and are giving her a visa card so she can buy her family gifts. she got upset about the visa but after i explained to her the if the situation were reversed she would do the same thing she agreed to take it.