Merry Christmas Jason! My two sons and I feel very blessed this holiday season! We have so many wonderful people in our lives who care about us and want to help us have a wonderful Christmas. Yesterday, the evening of December 12th, 2023 we heard three loud knocks on our front door. Slightly started I looked out the peep hole and didn’t see anyone.
After opening the door I saw a jar of money on the mat outside my door. It had a paper inside with the words Christmas Jar typed on it. With no one in view I picked it up, said “thank you” to anyone listening, went back inside and closed the door. My kids were in awe of what had just happened. I handed them the jar and walked outside curious to see if anyone was out there or if my neighbors had received a jar at their front doors.
There were two people across the parking lot and it looked like the tried to hide behind a car. They obviously didn’t want to be seen so I went back inside, not wanting to spoil the Magic and Miracles of Christmas. My kids and i sorted through the money in the jar, while sorting the money my youngest son said what if there was a 100 dollar bill in there. I thought theres no way, to my surprise not only was there a 100 dollar bill there was a 50, and multiple 20s, 10s, 5s and 1s along with over 65 dollars in change. It was unbelievable when they got done conting there was 342 dollars in total! My kids and I were speechless, we were in shock. The only words we could find was “we are so blessed”. It was truly amazing!
For many years I have been raising my kids on my own and I work hard to provide them with a good life. When the holidays come around it gets difficult to afford extra things that are needed or wanted. I try to budget my money wisely, and I do pretty well for the most part. Even with the payments I make to the attorney I hired to help me during the custody dispute with my kids’ dad. I have been able to pay all but $1000 dollars of the $10,000 I owe him. It has been a long year of court dates and stress. Knowing how much I owe my attorney has made it hard for me to be able to buy my kids the things they really want for Christmas.
The Christmas Jar has given me the opportunity to not only get things my kids need, but also to pay it forward and buy a little something for some of the incredible people we have in our lives.
Since I don’t know who to thank, I will thank you for helping to start this tradition in communities like mine. It really is a blessing that we will never forget.
Sending wishes for a very merry Christmas
—Cassidy Palmer (Reynolds)