Winter Wonderland
Every year as the hustle and bustle of the holiday season begins, staff at Mutual Ground are also focusing on the task of spreading joy to our clients. The Winter Wonderland Shoppe is Mutual Ground’s largest client centered event. Each year the event provides over 100 client families with gifts and winter wear for the holiday season.
Many of us may never experience the need that some of the families are experiencing when they come to our event. Many of us will never understand how extremely difficult the holidays can feel for some.
Part of Mutual Ground’s mission throughout all the services we offer is to help individuals reclaim their personal power, this concept flows right in to Winter Wonderland through our choice to allow the adult member of each household to personally select gifts for their family.
I remember waiting for my name to be called. I was told that I would be able to “pick out” gifts for my son. I was sure that meant that I would be provided with a bag of gifts for him depending on his age. Here we go…my turn. I am walked back by a sweet woman, probably not much older than I am. She smiles and tries to make small talk asking me about my son. Oddly, though she makes me feel a little more relaxed. I am walked into a room filled with books…she tells me I can pick out a few books for him. I pick out two books, carefully taking my time to find the perfect ones. Next, I am taken to pick out coloring books…I pick out an activity book, ‘this will be fun to sit with him and work on’ I think to myself. Then, I am taken into a larger room filled with toys. For a moment I am stunned…I thought that the books and coloring book was the most I would be taking home today. The woman tells me that I can pick out four gifts for my son. I am stunned again. I start walking around the room, totally overwhelmed. My son is a toddler so I pick out a Leapfrog toy, a magnetic fridge toy that teaches letters. ‘I can’t believe that they are just going to give me this Leapfrog toy’, I think to myself taking a quick glance at the woman as she comes over, “Can I take that from you and place it in your bag so that you can keep browsing?” she asks. “Thank you,” I say as I hand her the toy. I pick out one smaller toy and walk back over to her, handing her the toy and smiling, “I think this is good” I say. “You can still pick out two more gifts” she says.
“It’s ok, this is enough. I don’t want to take too much.” I say, feeling a little shamed to be taking two to begin with, “someone else might need them more than we do.” The sweet woman looks at me and says ever so gently, “You deserve to be here just as much as the next family. We have made sure that we will have enough for everyone that comes through these doors. So please, let me help you pick out two more gifts for your son.” My eyes fill with tears, I hold them back. I don’t have words so I simply nod my head. We walk through the room, she suggests a few toys based on what I told her about my son. After a few more minutes, she is holding a bag with four toys inside carefully picked out just for my son. We leave the toy room, and she takes me into a room with winter wear. She asks if either of us need supplies for winter. “Thank you so much, but I just bought my son a new coat.” She looks at me wearing a hoodie and beanie on my head. “Do you have a coat?” she asks. Before I am able to say anything, almost as if she had read my mind she says “I am a mom too. I know that we will always buy what our kids need before we buy what we need. You bought your son a coat. So now it is time to pick one out for you.”
The tears swell up in my eyes again, I hold them back again. What is this place? Who are these people and how did they get all this stuff to just GIVE me? The thoughts are circling in my head. I pick out a coat, a black one with a fuzz around the hood. “Thank you”, I say to her. “There is one more room I need to take you to,” she says. ‘Another room?’ I think to myself as we enter the final room. “This room is for you,” she says, “go ahead and pick out something special for yourself.” This time, I can’t hold back the tears.
As the woman helped me back to my car with the bags of items I had picked out, a rush of emotion hits me. I finally realized how nice Christmas morning would be this year, and I actually feel excited for my son to open his gifts. We load up my car and I turn and wrap my arms around this sweet woman. She hugs me back, “Thank you! He is going to love everything!” I say.
For me, being a part of the Winter Wonderland Shoppe is the best part of the holidays. When I wake up on Christmas morning to open gifts with my two teens, I always picture the many smiling faces that leave the event. Families that we were able to provide with a little joy, if only for a small moment, during such a difficult time in their life. Because after all, sometimes the most important moments in life are the small moments, right?
Written by
Betsy Santana
Marketing & Development Manager at Mutual Ground