Every holiday season, there are few greater feelings than waking up on Christmas Morning, rushing downstairs with the sleep still in your eyes, and you've got a ton of Christmas gifts waiting for you when you get there. There's nothing like it, I know, but it's important to keep in mind that you're very lucky if that was your Christmas - some people don't have that at all.
There are some people out there who unfortunately don't have anything to give or receive over Christmas - but while most of those people don't have the time or money to populate the Christmas tree, one family in New Jersey cruelly had their gifts stolen this year.
But luckily, New Jersey's finest were on hand to help turn this holiday tragedy into a Christmas miracle, and it's a heartwarming tale to tell this Christmas.
The protagonists on this occasion were a family living in Florence Township, who had loaded up their car with Christmas gifts, and parked it in front of a Quick Mart, only for a man to make off with not only the car, but the gifts inside. Florence Township Police Chief Brian Boldizar told us the story.
"I wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know how proud and honored I am to work with the men and women of the Florence Township Police Department. Here is the most recent example of why I feel this way," Boldizar said in his Facebook post.
"During this time when most families are preparing to celebrate Christmas, this family not only had to figure out how they were going to get from place to place without a vehicle, they also had to figure out how they were going to get Christmas gifts for their family."
Realising that the family were going to struggle to get their Christmas back on track, the team lent a helping hand in the best possible way, pooling their funds together to help the family replenish their lost gifts.
"Knowing this, our officers started putting their money together over the past two days, along with a donation from the Florence Township F.O.P. Lodge 210, and began shopping for gifts. After hearing about this incident, B&H Photo also donated an I-pad to include as a gift."
One of the officers involved even told his young daughters what was going on, and each of them decided to pitch in too, before the officers delivered the gifts to the family at Christmas, with off-duty officers taking time from their families to deliver the good deed.
"This job is a lot more then [sic] just writing tickets and arresting people," says Boldizar in the Facebook post. "While that is a part of taking care of the community, so are doing things like they did tonight."
Although the suspect who stole the family's car is still at large, the Florence Township Police Department have already done so much to help this family.
