"Thank you for giving to the Christmas Bureau so that families like mine can have joy at the holidays."

As parents, we want to give our kids every opportunity to find happiness and success.  I also want to give my kids the life my late husband and I dreamed for them.  When I decided to pack up my 2 girls and move to Canada there were a lot of unknowns;

Would we like it? Would we get used to the cold? Would we make friends? Would we be happy?

Like any move, it took time to settle in and money was always tight. 

We never suffered, and we were happy, but anything extra needed to be carefully planned for.  As our first Christmas in Edmonton approached, I knew I had to make it memorable for my kids.  They had already been through so much change, I just wanted to give them a holiday filled with joy; one they would remember with happy thoughts for years to come.  But I wasn’t sure how I was going to stretch the budget to make this happen.

Then someone told me about the Christmas Bureau. 

I am a proud woman and I didn’t want to ask for help, but I also knew that I couldn’t do Christmas by myself.

Hesitantly, I made the call.  From the moment the phone was answered I felt like I had a friend looking out for me.  Everyone I spoke to at the Christmas Bureau was so kind and considerate and they had so much joy – it was contagious. 

I expected a simple hamper of basic food supplies, but when the volunteers arrived I was overwhelmed with the hamper.  There was enough for Christmas and more!  I even asked if they were making other deliveries on my floor!

When the volunteers left, I looked at everything they delivered and I knew that we would have that memorable Christmas my kids deserved.  I knew that we would be alright.