"I think I saw you drop this."Wink Wink

"I think I saw you drop this." Wink WINK

When a stranger unexpectedly saves the day and fixes a mothers mistake.

The holiday season seems so overwhelming and misdirected energy being wasted all over the world. Many forget it's not all about gifts with high price tags or a tally of how many gifts under the tree.

This year stranger than any before and any of my traditions or things I was accustomed to doing were completely out of the question. There was the lack of money coming in as well as the lack of family and friends that I might normally have made some effort to see.

Yet I still was going to have two small children who still feel the magic of the season. My 6 year old daughter expects Santa to be showing up but my 1 year old wouldn't know anything different then what we decide to do.

The week before Christmas and I am doing all I can not to completely become anxiety stricken crazy mommy lost in an ocean's perfect storm all bottled up in one pretty package. I need to explain a little more of the situation. Now anytime Christmas has come and I don't have a source of income or have little income, I don't freak out. I just make my childrens gifts. I paint, sew some new clothes from old ones or get creative with stuff I've stored from old garage sales. This year I moved into my boyfriend's mothers home with him and our two daughters. We stayed in his room, the four of us and what stuff we left out from our storage. We had some of the girls' clothes and most of their toys on a trailer that we borrowed from a friend. Well we thought it was our friend, but due to an overbearing jealous insecure girlfriend decided we didn't return it in time and she had decided to take it with all our stuff on it.

Back to the point, we lost or stored most everything we owned, yet we are still buried in crap. I have nothing of mine with me. I started hand sewing a couple things but that takes me a very long time to do.

What I did have was like $40 in cash. I figured normal things were out the window. I was gonna take the chance and try my luck at the casino. I have no presents, no stocking or staffers. We didn't even get a tree . The whole coronavirus just had all our lives in New experiences.

Like I said misdirected energy in the beginning, I made a sideshow of my older daughter's life and wrote a book about her becoming a sister. I even published it on Amazon to surprise her. Yet I still wanted to have more money to buy things for the girls.

The day before Christmas eve I got my boyfriend to take me to the casino. Long story short I lost, he won a little. So I talk him out of another $20. He kept $40 and went outside to wait in the car.

I tried to have a positive Im a winner attitude, but that did not help. I lost again. Knowing we had $40, which is what I started with, only upset me even more. The my boyfriends pointing out how much he would have gave me added to casino money I had spent only opened the gate and my tears were running down my cheeks

He takes me to Walmart, my eyes still watery and now blacked from my make up . I put on my mask that is required due to the coronavirus out in our world now and I head into the virus pool of Walmart last effort Christmas shoppers with $38, $3 gift card and $3 on my bank card.

The store was busy and the people already being scrooged are now germophobic as well. Can't walk to close, stand to close, don't talk or dare sneeze in any direction. All I was gonna get was a soccer ball and a goal for my 6yr old. Found those items and together it was $32 about. So I walked ilse after ilse trying to find something for the baby that was fun and educational with a price tag under $10.

I was carrying my item held with my arm across my chest. I'm pretty sure anyone who noticed me would think I was obviously a zombie or some variation of the walking dead. That's when I heard something along the lines of Hey Mis, I stopped turning to find where it came from. This being difficult due to masks that we all had covering our faces. I noticed two older gentlemen. One of them walking around displayed towards me while the other nodded and watched.

The man held his hand out with some cash I saw folded and said" I am pretty sure I saw you drop this, it must have fallen from your hands." My first thought was to tell him I wasn't carrying any money in my hand. That's when I noticed him winking at me. I realized he didn't want to embarrass me or the possibility of bruising my ego. My eyes started to fill up and he walked away and I said thank you.

I was not sure what the amount was but I knew I could get the baby at least one decent present. I found something that had shapes and music and went to the checkstand. That's where I looked at folded money in my hand. There was $40 dollars there. I was in shock, here I made a bad choice and took our money to buy our kids Christmas to the casino and gambled with it and lost all of it. Now trying to work with what we had left over these two strangers and a random act of kindness made it possible to have both girls with a present worth having to open on Christmas morning.

Both girls were so happy with each one of the gifts and I was stressed and I cried even though Christmas came and went all the same. The girls didn't need more or even miss any of the past traditions. My 6 year old decorated a paper tree with ornaments I printed and cut out, we ate turkey dinner, played soccer, read my book and got a gift from two strangers that unknowingly fixed my Christmas mistake and even protected my dignity.