Jeff Gilbert

N. Texas SP
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Oct 20, 2000
2,969
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Bare with me on this, it may get a little long winded and be a little hard to follow. This is a Christmas story I encountered today, or perhaps I should say Tigger (my daughter Hailey) encountered.

I have to back up a couple of weeks for this to make sense. It all started out as a toy drive that we do at the Waco Eagles Motorcycle Club here in Waco TX of which I'm the president. We had our annual "Play Day" to raise toys for the needy. We had the best year ever from this event and took in quite a haul. So much this year that we couldn't transport it out so we locked it up in the building at the club. Enter the thieves and clean us out. Lost beside the toys was also a lot of personal property and damages, some of which I've already told regarding my guitar post. That's a different story. The short of it is we got a lot of support from everywhere and ended up with more than enough than we anticipated. On to the rest of the story.

This story involves the last toy donation / delivery we made today. I thought we had taken care of every family that we could find that needed help this year. Days of shopping had foregone and it was finally time to concentrate on personal obligations, but 1st it was time for a quick bite to eat. I ran to the house and picked up now 17 year old Hailey. We finally agreed that Panara Bread would be a good place for a snack where we could sit down and eat as well discuss Hailey's up coming college plans. We walked up to the counter to place our order and was greeted by a less than friendly worker. She wasn't rude but displayed more of a sour attitude as if she was put out with the world. Hailey quickly placed her order while I was a little bit more on the undecisive side. The lady sort of pushed me to the side with her eyes and helped the next person in line. Normally I would have spoken up but today I didn't. I turned to the lady beside me and asked if she had finished her Christmas shopping to which her reply was Yes, finally! I then turned to the lady worker and asked her the same question to which her reply was ...um .. NO!. She said "I didn't get to buy anything for my grandkids and probably won't". I then asked if it was because she didn't have time to which she said, NO, THAT'S NOT IT!. After a little prying I got out of her that she didn't have the money. I then asked how old they were and perhaps I could help. I told her I had plenty of gifts she could have. She looked at me puzzled and said in a sort of sarcastic manner, those are for your family, not mine! I replied, NO, they are for your family, NOT MINE! It took a little convincing as I explained what my club had been doing. She was getting off work in 5 minutes and I convinced her to stay and wait for me to come back. About 30 minutes later I returned with the majority of the toys we had left that had no home. As I opened the door to my car, toys began falling out. Hailey & I worked diligently to pack her trunk and back seat of her car while the lady fought back tears. One of the items was a teddy bear which the woman picked up and claimed for herself. Before we finished loading her car, she was jumping up and down, clapping her hands, and hugging us both numerous times, all the while still fighting to hold back the tears. I instructed her to tell her family that she simply stopped on the way home to pick up a few things for the grandkids. She kept repeating "I'll never forget you or this day". As we finished loading and got in our car to drive away, I saw the woman sitting in her car hugging the teddy bear and crying her eyes out. Hailey turned to me, fighting back tears herself, and said, "Daddy, I don't want a Christmas present, I already got mine just now". "I feel warm inside!."
I told her that's what it's about.

Merry Christmas yall!
 

SVTMc-G

Member
Apr 1, 2006
368
0
Good stuff! Have a Merry Christmas!!
Matt Mc-G
 

RYDMOTO

~SPONSOR~
Feb 16, 2001
612
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I have the warm glow going now also after reading your story :)
Your daughter will carry this event with her for the rest of her life.
True unconditional giving.
And i have been in a place in my life where I had to learn how to "receive"
Way to go!
 

CRASH39

Member
Mar 4, 2007
92
0
That is the coolest thing anyone has done..I am lost for words here...

merry christmass...
 

MXSparx

Mr. Meltsomeglass
Jul 25, 1999
3,724
71
NoVa
Merry Christmas Santa and Elf. I never knew Santas workshop was in Waco. Now I do. :cool:
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
19,774
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Awesome Jeff & Tigger... just AWESOME!
 

Ol'89r

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 27, 2000
6,961
45
Now THAT is a real Christmas story. :nod:

Thank you for sharing that with us Jeff. :cool:
 

Vic

***** freak.
LIFETIME SPONSOR
May 5, 2000
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:cool:
 

Sawblade

Timmy Timmy Timmy!
Sep 24, 2000
1,491
0
Cool story, thanks for sharing! :cool:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
 

Michelle

Sponsoring Member
Oct 26, 1999
1,245
0
Merry Christmas jeff & Tigger.
Good to see some people remember the spirit of christmas (I'm the grinch) and that's what it should be about.
This will be one year you'll definitely remember (our family was talking about what we've done in past years, but can't honestly remember, it's all the boring same).
 

Papakeith

COTT Champ Emeritus
Damn Yankees
Aug 31, 2000
6,695
50
RI
No kidding JP. That was my first response too!

Great Story Jeff. God Bless, and a very Merry Christmas to you and Tigger
 

sharky243

Member
Dec 14, 2008
246
0
Times are getting very hard for the majority of us. That story makes you stop and think a minute of just how many of us who once had it all, now have vertualy nothing, or have never had anything at all. The feeling you get when you help someone who desperatly needs it, has got to be the greatest gift of all. That is the true meening of Christmas. No matter what time of year it is, open your hearts and help your friends and neibours anyway you can. That is the only way we all can survive these difficult times. We are stronger together, divided we don't have a chance. "God save us all !!!"
 

Reesknight

~SPONSOR~
Oct 31, 2002
942
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Jeff, you're gonna have to quit with these stories. Men are not suppose to cry and you're killin me! :(

Great story tho. You do good work.
 

Jeff Gilbert

N. Texas SP
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Oct 20, 2000
2,969
2
I'm glad you guys liked the story. This was truely an experience for me this Christmas. I venture to say I'll carry this one to the grave.
 
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