Christmas, My Favorite Time to Give Back, Lake Almanor

2017 Submission to “Tell Your Christmas Story Lake Almanor!” By Anonymous

For as long as I can remember Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. I grew up in the Bay Area with lots of people and city lights. We didn’t have much. My Mom and Dad had split when I was 3 and my Mom raised us.  We saw Dad on the weekends but that was all. He didn’t provide much and my Mom didn’t ask for much either.  She did the best that she could without him.

Our Christmas’s were always small and simple. Maybe a bike if we were lucky, but mostly a few small toys. They seemed perfect for me, but my Mom was always sad. One year I remember that my Mom called my Dad for some help with gifts and he said, “sure” he would help.  But when Christmas neared, he called my mom and said that he had been robbed and didn’t have anything to give us.  I remember that year we got a doll and an outfit and something in our stockings. It was that year that I decided that when I was old enough I was going to try to help kids that were in need at Christmas time. 

It was many years later, but I finally I got the opportunity to do just that. I moved back to Lake Almanor in 2010 after being gone for 3 years.  That year my Mom was helping with the Toys for Tots drive for Chester and the Lake Almanor Basin. When she asked my husband and I to help we were thrilled. She put us in charge of making the giant boxes to put in the stores and collecting the gifts as the boxes got full.  At the end of the toy drive I found myself crying.  We had transported somewhere between 3 and 4 car loads full of toys.

I found myself reflecting on the time that we were in need and the people who had helped us. I remembered my young soul wishing that I could help others in need.  Now, here I was gathering and wrapping these gifts for similar children with joy and happiness my heart.  I had gotten my wish.  These toys were not just for the kids, they were for the mothers too, mothers like my Mom, or families with parents that had lost their jobs. Whatever the unfortunate circumstance I was doing what I had dreamed.  It was the best Christmas ever.