to have tear in my eye?

F77ms....that did make me cry. I think you feel the spirit of Christmas more acutely when you are struggling, and you receive a kind gesture. What your mother did for her neighbour is priceless...

My children are now in their forties - but I still have a tiny soft toy which an elderly neighbour gave my first born. We did'nt have much then. Later in the year she gave me a beautiful tiny hand knitted cardigan. We asked her to be godmother and remained good friends until her demise.

Tears here too. We had a neighbour with five young children, three different dads apparently, and she seemed like a young woman defeated by life when she moved in. We didn't see her more than about three times a week. The children were lovely; one little girl used to run to hug me, and they always wanted to talk for a while. We gave a box of biscuits as just a small gesture at Christmas, and when we moved I put some money in an envelope and asked her to treat the children to a game, or perhaps the cinema, and said we had liked living next door and watching them grow up. I later had a card saying that we were 'the kindest people she had ever met'. That made me weep; a box of biscuits, a few words here and there and an acknowledgement that she was doing her best, and that was the most kindness she had ever had. I have never forgotten her, or her scruffy but happy little family, and I hope they found a lot more kindness as life went on.

Eirel sounds like they could all do with a friend, grandma included,

Happy Christmas

I know it's so sad Ellen, we have our gd she has lived with us since she was 6 but you know what those little boys will have a loving home just like we have given our gd and that is the most important thing.

Lovely, true Christmas spirit x

Lovely stories and nice one grannyknot. As some one who fosters I know first hand it's sometimes the smallest things and words of kindness that mean so much and break down barriers.

Reading this just restores my faith happy Christmas to you all x

Someone once said to me' No act of kindness however small is ever wasted' How true.

Lovely posts!
Sheila sue. Kinship care can be a wonderful thing.
I shall certainly make sure there's a treat for my neighbour and her boys!

Yes yes yes to buying them a little treat.

Perhaps £5 each? At this age, nothing beats goingtoshop and picking out your own treat

Heartwarming that there really are kind people around and a gesture like this however small is so appreciated. That's what Christmas is all about and people like you (us) know this.

We hear about so much of the bad stuff going on in the world, it's lovely to hear that people can still be so thoughtful these days.

Of course, being in kinship care with their grandma doesn't necessarily mean they are wanting for anything.I wouldn't go leaving gifts on their doorstep. Maybe give the boys chocolate Father Cristmases or similar, next time you see them, nearer the big day.

Wonderful to read such lovely people are still about ,,,your small kindnesses will not have gone unnoticed,,,strangers are friends we have not yet met

Have a wonderful, peaceful Christmas

What lovely sentiments on this thread

Elril what a lovely thing to do, and the simple things in life mean so much, what pleasure you gave to those children.I hope you have a Happy Christmas.

Back in August there was a plea on Facebook from the mother of a 15 year old autistic boy who never received birthday cards from anyone outside their very small family. I, along with over 20,000 others sent cards and he was so thrilled. I took a note of his address at the time and just posted a Christmas card to him. I hope a few others have done the same. It's little things like that that mean Christmas I think.

We were in a large supermarket a couple of years ago and waited behind a very elderly lady whilst she chose from the selection of chocolates. She made to put the tin in her trolley but hesitated, before putting them back on the shelf. We are by no means wealthy, but it made our day to buy these same chocolates and give them to her on the way out. She was speechless - but it made our Christmas.

Elrel that's lovely.

I think just a very small gift each such as a selection box or chocolate Father Christmases would be a nice thing to do.

All tearful here. What lovely stories. X

The earthquakes in the South Island of New Zealand have brought out the best in human nature. In this beautiful, rugged area, which attracts hundred of thousands of foreign visitors, there is only one road in and out - and it was completely destroyed. Tourists were "adopted" by townspeople, everyone shared what they had. Just today on the news, there was an article about school children who collected a container load of presents following a nation-wide appeal for the children affected. Every child in the stricken town of Kaikoura received a pile of gifts. A lady in a really remote township set up beds for people with damaged houses in the local hall, and fed them all from her own freezer and storage cupboards. These people, specially the young 'uns, have been really traumatised by the massive quakes, and have been cut off from the outside world for weeks. Just shows that people are fundamentally good and makes me proud to see the true Kiwi spirit in action.

This reminds me of the "trend" a little while ago to do random acts of kindness. Just anything that crops up in the street or elsewhere, doesn't need to be big or expensive etc , just literally random and kind!

There is a lot of kindness around, it's just that much of it goes unseen and unsung.

The news is full of doom and gloom, and it's only right that we need t be aware of the awful events in other places, there ought also to be more made of the good side to human nature.

I think one bbc tv news area (was it Southern?) used to have at least one heartwarming good news story every day to counteract all the other awful news.

I'm pleased to have an update on what is happening in New Zealand. I know several people there, and also one tourist who has been very well looked after in the last few weeks after an unexpected trauma (not due to the earthquake).