Gail crouched low, eyes locked on the wooden panels, bright red paint glaring at her as her eyelids began to twitch.

Dabriel cracked his head back and forth, eyes drawn to the frosty blue coat with small puffs on the sleeves.

Kolian danced from one foot to the other, listening to the call of two thin boxes and one medley of counterfeit victuals. Photo-real images taunted him as cherry-pink heroes danced across the box tops.

A click sounded, loud among the sounds of determined thoughts. The scrape of a door was trampled by the sounds of many footprints flooding the store. Rapacious bodies shoved and snatched, pushed and pulled each other in the jumbled mass.

Jules paused, feet squealing against hardy laminate. A small bag lay nearby, nestled snugly in its hidden bed under the store counter. The noise and competition faded into only the scrape of boxes and the beep of one cashier’s computer could be heard. Unexpectedly, the cashier found a hand blocking the crinkled plastic bag as she reached for it.

“No, put that in the charity bag,” His hand gestured below.

The cashier gaped, eyes darting from the toy to the charity bag. “Sir, this is limited edition, we only have ten in the store today. Are you sure?”

The man grimaced, already missing the look on his nephew’s face, but he nodded. “Yeah, I already got three toys for him.”

As the toy dropped down into the perkier bag, a new image replaced the sight of his nephew. Two young boys rolled a car back and forth happily in a pile of fallen pine needles, the limited edition sticker discarded as they made rumbling noises together.

While many people begin shopping early, Black Friday is the true start of the Christmas shopping season. People crowd into stores or take advantage of online Black Friday deals. While we are out there buying gifts for the fortunate people in your life, we also help ensure that others have the gifts they will enjoy this season. Even one gift can make an incredible difference to those who may have had none.

Standish Writes encourages all our readers to give back this holiday if they can, and to be willing to accept help when they need it to make Christmas magical for the young ones in their lives.

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