Today is my favorite day of the whole year and I am sure many kids around the nation share my sentiment. After all, today is Christmas and with its advent comes lots and lots of gifts! Waking up to find an XBox, an iPad, or any cool gift under your Christmas tree is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. However, while many of us are enthused by the gifts we get, there are lots of people around the U.S. that don’t have the resources to buy themselves or their loved ones a Christmas gift.

As a result of the dwindling economy, many people have not been able to purchase Christmas gifts. Thus, they are making installment plans with stores to pay for their gift, known as a layaway. This means that rather than paying the entire amount in one day, they are paying for their gift at a certain rate. For instance, let’s say I want to be buy a laptop that costs $200, but I cannot pay off the amount in one day so what I do is pay $10 dollars every day for 20 days.

While it may be less stressful financially, paying for a gift this way is still inconvenient. However, this year, there have been surges of altruism occurring throughout the country in the form of ‘Secret Santas’.  These ‘Santas’ have been going around store-to-store, paying off the balance of people’s layaways. According to NBC Chicago, one woman named Dori Campbell, had bought several gifts on layaway for her grandchildren. As Dori was beginning to pay for her gifts, the cashier notified her that a Secret Santa had paid for them.

Said Dori, “The cashier woman was like holding my hands because I was shaking so bad because this has never happened to me before,” Dori’s story is just one of many examples of the generosity of these Secret Santas.

The altruistic nature of these Santas exemplifies the whole notion of giving back, which is one of the most important aspects of Christmas. Whether you call it Secret Santa, paying it forward, or just random acts of kindness, many would agree that the spirit of giving still lives on.

The Globe staff wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!