Nothing is more exciting than waking up on Christmas morning, walking to the living room, and seeing your presents sitting under the tree, just waiting for you to open them. As you get ready to see if Santa was feeling generous this year, the excitement wells up in your stomach as you get ready to rip open your present. But then Mom yells, “Wait! Smile for the camera!”
You groan but begrudgingly smile because you know how much thought and love she put into the gift you are about to open. The ear-to-ear grin you give your family as you thank them for all the gifts and hug them is the best part of Christmas day. However, not everyone is as fortunate to wake up in a warm home with presents under the tree. But a TikTok trend has gotten people in the giving spirit. Influencers are adopting angel children to grant them their Christmas wishes.
Angel Trees is a program through the Salvation Army and partnered with Walmart that helps bring Christmas presents to disadvantaged kids. You can buy items off the child’s Christmas list that you choose from the tree. The ages of Angel Tree kids range from toddlers to preteens.
The TikTok hashtag “angeltree” has 179.5 million views. The trend depicts users picking a child in need to shop for all their Christmas wishes. Users video themselves shopping at Walmart for toys, clothes, books, shoes, and anything the child might want for Christmas. This trend has caused Angel Trees to be empty or only have a few left, making some trendgoers travel to multiple stores to find a child to shop for.
The video of one of the first influencers to gain a lot of attention from the trend is @clarapeirce. Her TikTok from 2022 has 31.5 million views and 6.2 million likes and her video from this year has 8.1 million views with 1.5 million likes. The trend has reached many people and has influenced people to not just focus on their own Christmas lists this holiday season. Christmas is not called the season of giving for no reason.
Members of our community are helping Angel Tree kids right here at Davie High. The Junior Civitan Club and STEM Ambassadors are buying Christmas gifts for angel kids. The Junoir Civitan went Christmas shopping for a one-year-old girl, a six-year-old boy, and a three-year-old boy. The DCHS Junior Civitan decided to support an angel tree kid last year. The club is continuing to sponsor Angel Tree Kids again this year. The Davie Pregnancy Center asked the Junoir Civitans to purchase an outfit, socks, shoes, a book, and a toy for each angel.
Sixteen Junoir Civitan members went shopping for the four angels on Monday, December 4th. The one-year-old little girl had clothes, water toys, and Little People toys on her list. The six-year-old little boy wanted clothes, electronics, and wrestling toys. The three-year-old little boy put clothes, motorcycles, and Monster Jam toys on his wishlist.
Jaime Johnson, Junior Civitans advisor and culinary arts teacher, says that the students were ”delighted” to participate in the charity. “By participating in events like this, we are living up to that motto because someday those children will remember a Christmas filled with magic and love.”
The Junoir Civitans also rang the bell for the Salvation Army´s Red Kettle Campaign. Which provides funding for many charities like the Angel Tree program.
Leigha Wilson, math teacher and advisor for STEM Ambassadors suggested that the club spread some holiday cheer by sponsoring an angel tree recipient. The STEM Ambassadors bought presents for a young girl who put on her list that she liked dinosaurs and My Little Pony. STEM Ambassador, Elliot Newsome, was one of the ambassadors to go shopping for the Angel Tree kid.
¨We had a blast getting to shop for our angel tree child,” Newsome said. It felt very fulfilling to be able to help make someone else’s Christmas special this year!¨
There are also many other charities besides the Angel Tree program that hold toy donations around the holiday season. Toys for Tots is a charity sponsored by the US Marine Core. It is a program in which you donate new toys or books to disadvantaged children. Toys for Tots has distributed toys and books to over 291 million children. Toys for Tots can be found in multiple stores in our community like the Five Below in Clemmons.
The Christmas season is often overshadowed by the consumerism of presents and holiday sales, and we neglect to see the true meaning of the season of giving. This Christmas give back to your community, whether that’s buying presents for those in need, giving a hug to someone who’s having a hard time, or even just a compliment to a passing stranger. Spreading positivity is the best way to give back during the holiday season and all year round.
