December 25, 2017 – davidbruceblog #2

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On 24 December 2013, Twisted_Villa posted a photograph of a letter and money on Imgur. On Reddit, she explained, “A girl I wasn’t familiar with from my [high] school knocked on my door yesterday afternoon. She said, ‘I wanted to bless you this Christmas. Have a merry Christmas!’ She handed me an envelope containing a letter and $220! I recently got in a car accident and am currently struggling with depression, so it means a lot to me knowing I’m important to some people somewhere. I’m not religious but I still have a lot of respect for whoever thought I deserved this. This is what Christmas spirit looks like.” Redditor Learnincurve commented, “Oh god I’ve seen this before as one of my childhood friends was in a church that did this and it’s sweeter than you think. It’s a thing with certain churches to do a big fund raiser and then they get people (in this case the kids who did the fund raiser) to nominate people to receive gifts or money and the congregation discusses it, if your nominee is chosen you give them the envelope. Basically this girl stood up in front of all her friends, family and peers and gave a speech as to why she felt you deserved it. (this is what is making me well up) Knowing these things I would bet that she said it’s because you were brave and didn’t complain about your injuries. If it were me I would spend some of that at a craft store and make a thank you card as it’s the kind of thing this sort of Christian communities really like. :).” This is what the letter said: “This Christmas, a group of high school students raised money. God laid it on their hearts to give some of it to you! In the envelope you have a 200$ $220. The fundraiser was done to show God’s great love for you, no matter who you are or what you’ve done. Jesus will always love you. This fundraiser was done in remembrance of Jesus this Christmas season. As you spend this money, remember the reason you received it: Jesus’ birth. He humbly came among us sinners, as a human himself. As his time drew near on the Earth, He told us of eternal salvation in Heaven and He suffered and died so that we may inherit it. We are told ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ and ‘If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.’ (Romans 3:23 and Romans 10: 9-10) The gift of 100$ [sic] probably won’t last long, but the gift of eternal salvation from the Lord, as well as the love, security, joy, abundance, and hope that He provides, will last forever! Have a very Merry Christmas! God bless!”

On 20 December 2013, singer Beyoncé Knowles, age 32, visited a Walmart in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, where she gave everyone a $50 Walmart gift card. Beyoncé gave away 750 cards — that’s $37,500 worth of gift cards! Each gift card was enclosed in an envelope marked “Happy Holidays from Beyoncé.” At Walmart, she purchased a copy of her own latest release, Beyoncé, and some toys for her 23-month-old daughter: Blue Ivy. Walmart spokeswoman Sarah McKinney said, “It was amazing, quite a scene. Everybody was so excited when she came in, and it’s so great what she did for our customers right before Christmas.” She added, “We were all surprised that she stopped by, but it was great. We’re really glad she dropped in before her concert in Boston. It was a treat.” Phoebe Chase, a customer who received a gift card, took a photograph of Beyoncé in Walmart and posted it on Twitter. Ms. Chase wrote this caption for the photograph: “So I decided to stop at a Walmart in suburban Massachusetts. Who knew I’d run into Beyoncé?” At Walmart, Beyoncé held a little girl and said to her, “Hi, beautiful.”

Occasionally, a UPS-delivered package gets stolen. During the holiday season of 2013, a UPS delivery person in Minnesota delivered a package when no one was home to get it. The UPS delivery person left the package carefully hidden behind a snow shovel that was left outside the door. Redditor SpokeyDokey_ posted a photograph of the snow shovel and package on Imgur with the caption “Good Guy UPS Delivery Man.” Redditor DylanAnderson commented, “Fun fact: if you notice on the package there is the word ‘snow’ on the sticker on the lower left. This is actually the name of the truck; every UPS truck is named something random. I also notice that the package is being received in MN. I’m going to show the driver of this truck this picture and maybe get him a pat on the back from management. They work damn hard during the holidays. Sincerely, A UPS truck loader in your area.”

In December 2013, an anonymous male Good Samaritan bought the entire kids toy section of the Goodwill at 315 Pavilion Lane in Fort Collins, Colorado. The man has done this for a few years, always around Christmas. Goodwill store manager Todd Wakefield announced over the loudspeaker, “Attention, kids, today only you can take home one toy for free.” Vanessa Clark, Goodwill of Denver’s director of public relations, said about the Good Samaritan, “We applaud this gentleman, and all of our donors and supporters at the holidays and all year long.” Joel Espinosa, age seven, went to the part of the store that had stuffed animals and selected a white Christmas bear to take home. A mother who heard Mr. Wakefield’s announcement on the loudspeaker told her young daughter, “Did you hear that? You get to pick out a toy.” She paused and then added, “Because you’ve been so good today.”

“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” — Dale Evans

“Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store.” — Dr. Seuss

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