Each year, my high school does an excellent job of providing for the community during the Holidays. During Thanksgiving, they hand out dinners to families in need, and for Christmas, they adopt "Angels." These Angels are students from Manchester, and possibly members of their family, who are either struggling financially, or going through a harsh experience, such as, a loss of a loved one. A few years back, when I was a sophomore, I had a very memorable giving experience:

I was surrounded by a few of my peers; we each looked at the wishlist of our BETA club's adopted Angel. As we were looking, I couldn't help but cringe at a comment made by a peer of mine. They said,

"An Urban Decay NAKED Pallet? What! That's on MY wishlist. Why would anyone spend that kind of money for BETA hours."

I could feel my blood boiling. My face was turning red and I couldn't control my burning anger. I was determined to shut that person up. I responded with, "I would," and I did. I went home and that very evening and logged onto Sephora. Every time I thought of the comment, I bought another item. I ended up spending $100 dollars on this girl, and it felt great. Not only did I get her a NAKED pallet, but I also got her lip glosses, mascara, foundation, the whole nine yards. When I brought it to school to wrap it, I was judged by the person who made the comment. It didn't bother me; I knew that I was going to make a girl at Manchester's Christmas a special one. My mom was extremely proud of me. We even thought about my Angel on Christmas morning. We wondered if she felt as special as she should have. My mom told me, " you have a heart of gold, Clair Renee."

This year, due to the passing of my mom, my brother and I were put on the list. Not only are we suffering from an immense loss, but we're having financial struggles as well. My mom made Christmas the greatest day of the year. With my her gone, I did the best Christmas shopping that I could with the money we have, but shopping for yourself can kind of make you feel a little Scroogey. I did it for my brother anyway. In years prior, we would fill up the tree before Christmas with gifts from Ben and I, that were for my mom, or for each other. My mom would always set up the presents from "Santa" on Christmas morning. Even though we were adults, my mom just adored Santa. This year, for the majority of the season, our tree was bare. There were no gifts to give to mom, and all of the "Santa" gifts were from me to my brother and vice versa. When we lost mom, we lost a lot of tradition. However, this morning, I drove to school to pick up our Christmas Angel presents. To my surprise, they had three kitchen sized trash bags full of beautifully wrapped presents waiting for us. I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear; I was so happy that our tradition could continue. We went from a naked Christmas tree, to a completely full one. As I placed each present under our tree, I couldn't help but recollect on the year that I gave to my Angel. I thought of the comment, and I thought of the girl on Christmas morning. Being in this horrible situation has opened my eyes to the importance of giving; if you are not generous towards the world, you can not expect generosity back from it.