Ingram, Texas:

I had a wonderful experience yesterday! I received a Christmas Jar. I had never heard of a Christmas Jar and had no idea what it was. A stranger came to my house and said they had a gift for the Williams family, and gave me the jar.

Many of you know that the past year was a very hard one for our family. I started the Vocational Nursing Program at Schreiner University in the beginning of January and Graduated December 10th. I tried very hard to maintain a job throughout the year but in June my grades started slipping and the amount of homework and studding increased as we started second semester. I had to quit my job in July. My husband has worked very hard to keep our family going while I have been in school. He has been able to provide us with everything we NEED but our wants have been pushed aside. As a mother it is nothing new to have my wants pushed aside but it kills me to not be able to give my children some of what they want including a good Christmas. I have three of the most amazing children that anyone could ask for. The past year has been very hard on them as well. There mommy has been constantly studying and daddy is always at work or looking for side jobs and all the little extras that we usually do like go see a movie or the occasional trip to six flags has not happened. We were able to do a little Christmas shopping and get them 3 presents each. Ironically enough we were only able to do this because we have been saving our change for some time now. When we cashed it in it was only around $90 but we were able to spend $30 on each of them. Thankfully our children are very understanding and know that I am not working and that we can not afford expensive thing and have asked for very reasonable gifts. Which goes to show just how amazing they are.

Well back to the Christmas Jar. DJ and myself emptied the jar to count the coins and realized that there was more than change in the jar. There was $160 dollars in cash along with $120.10 in change. This is the most amazing thing that has happened to me this year. Knowing that I would be able to do more for my kids for Christmas was better than Graduation. I am sure that I will never know the name of the Angel who sent us this gift but I am very grateful for their generosity. This has inspired me to start a Christmas Jar to present to someone next Christmas and I hope that it has inspired some of the people who have read this as well. I encourage each of you to go and buy a copy of the book and read it. I myself intend to do the same. It is my understanding that there is also a children’s version of the book as well.

I wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!