When I was 8, my class had a Christmas gift exchange.<\/p>\n
My family was so poor we couldn\u2019t afford a gift, so I wrapped one of my dad\u2019s old books in reused gift paper and gave it to my classmate. She, in return, had given me the latest Barbie. When she saw my gift, she started crying.<\/p>\n
The next day, her mom came to school, looking serious and asking for me. Suddenly, she started smiling when she saw me and her expression softened. She handed me a bag filled with gifts\u2014the Barbie\u2019s matching car, a Ken doll, and brand-new holiday clothes. I was overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t end there. I froze in shock when she told me to wait after school because she was taking me and her daughter to lunch\u2014I couldn\u2019t believe it. It was my first time ever in a restaurant.<\/p>\n
Her daughter, who had been upset before, was now kind to me, and we became close friends. We\u2019re still friends today, even at 24, despite living in different towns.
\nThat mother\u2019s kindness was the first time I truly felt the magic of Christmas. I\u2019ve never forgotten it. Now that my family is financially stable, I pay it forward every year by helping a child in need during the holidays<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was 8, my class had a Christmas gift exchange. My family was so poor we couldn\u2019t afford a gift, so I wrapped one of my dad\u2019s old books… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n