It was roughly 10 years ago that I decided to return to adult day school to work on achieving my high school diploma. I was living in a small town of about 1300 people where I was new and didn't know anyone. In addition to earning my degree, enrolling in school seemed like a great way to meet people, and this turned out to be truer than I could have imagined.

It was approaching the holidays, and I was struggling financially to make ends meet. It looked like I wasn't going to be able to go home and see my family over the holidays and that made me feel quite depressed. I shared my feelings about my situation with a few of the friends I had made at school, and I appreciated their words of support and understanding.

Two weeks before Christmas day I went to the post office to pick up my mail. One of the pieces had my name and address typed on the envelope, without a return address. I found this quite odd. Inside there was a Christmas card. It had a great picture of old St. Nicholas looking quite jolly. I opened the card to find more typed words wishing me a happy holiday. It was signed, again typed, "Love Santa." There was also a $50.00 bill in the card!

I was speechless! I had no idea who had done this. My eyes filled with tears and I felt like my heart would burst. I was going to be able to go home and visit my family after all. This was the gas money I needed.

I tried to find out who could have done this act of kindness, figuring it must have been someone at school, as that is the only place I knew people. No one would admit to it, so I left a heartfelt thank you note on the bulletin board for "Santa." He must have received it, as it was gone when I returned after holiday break.

There really is a Santa, and likely many who perform secret acts of kindness that are forever engraved on our hearts. And I am so thankful that I still believe.