Uplifting Christmas Stories

“Whenever we get gloomy about the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. To me, love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that if you look for it, love actually is all around.”

–Love Actually

With that in mind, here are are some of our favorite uplifting stories for this Christmas season:

1. Andre Johnson: We are such suckers for do-gooder professional athletes. Being the mother’s of little boys who are being raised in a slightly sports-obsessed families, we worry about our boys looking up to athletes who don’t always set the best example. That’s why we were so happy when we read about Andre Johnson’s kindness at Christmas. Johnson, of the Houston Texans, spent over $19,000 on toys for under-privileged children in the Houston area. He’s a modern-day St. Nicholas!

2. Santa request: There is no way to explain this one, but to watch the video. I watched it about 10 times in a row.

3. Santa language: A 3 year-old little boy named Cameron in Massachusetts went to see Santa. Cameron is legally deaf and wears a hearing aid in each ear. When they got to the front of the line to see Santa, his sister ran up to him and sat on his lap. Cameron was more reluctant and held back. Santa noticed his mother speaking to him in sign language, and began signing to him as well. This was a complete surprise to Cameron and his family. You can watch a video of this sweet little boy here:

4. Ticket with $100: A man in Plano, Texas was pulled over for having an expired registration. The man explained to the police officer that he could not afford it, and had to choose between buying food for his children, or registering his vehicle. The officer went back to his car, wrote him a ticket and gave it to the man. The man opened it and saw that he had left a $100 bill in it. The best part of the story is that the officer is choosing to remain anonymous.
5. Anonymous layaway: An anonymous person in Eau Clair, Wisconsin went to the local K-Mart store and paid off everyone’s items on layaway. When people came to pay for and pick up the items, many were moved to tears that someone had already taken care of it. Some are paying it forward by paying for gifts of other K-Mart shoppers.