Project Christmas 2025:The Season I’ll Never Forget

Some moments stay with you long after the decorations come down, and this season did exactly that. This year, because of you, Project Christmas supported 85 families, 306 individuals, and we received 950+ nominations. Those numbers still stop me in my tracks. The need in Windsor-Essex is real, and it’s heavy. But what outweighs it every time is the heart of this community, and I witnessed that again and again this season.

Delivery week was everything at once. Beautiful, heavy, exhausting, emotional, unforgettable.  

Our team of elves rolled up like a full-on Christmas convoy, a packed U-Haul with five cars trailing behind. As soon as we pulled up, the doors flew open and the elves jumped into action, unloading gifts while families stood in their doorways, overcome with emotion, watching it all unfold. You could see it written all over their faces, that moment when someone realizes, we’re going to be okay. Walking into their homes, it was immediately clear we weren’t just delivering gifts. We were standing in the middle of something so much bigger.

One delivery I will never forget was to a family who had lost their Meme and Pepe unexpectedly, only a month apart the year before. They were the rock of their family and lived for Christmas. Their home was so full of decorations it resembled the North Pole, but mom and her 18-year-old son told us they promised themselves they would never put them up again. Without Meme and Pepe, Christmas didn’t feel right. When Project Christmas called, they said something shifted and hope returned. Standing there together, all of us bawling, they promised those decorations would go up every year, not because the grief was gone, but because it was never about decorations. It was about choosing to keep going. I sat in the car for a minute after we left, because you don't forget moments like that.

And then there are moments that humble you in the quietest way. A single mom with a five-year-old, smiling while we walked in, explained that she is expected to go into hospice in April. I don’t have words for the strength I saw in that home.

Every single doorstep carried a story. There were deliveries with single dads crying, kids screaming with excitement, families shaking just trying to hold it together. People invited us in and shared their hardships because they wanted us to understand that what we were doing was not just “nice.” These families were some of the strongest people I have ever met in my life. Their gratitude was overwhelming, and I will carry them with me forever.

OUR SPONSORS Something that was deeply special to me this year was seeing how much this program helps our sponsors too, just in a completely different way. 

There was one sponsor who adopted a family with a little girl who has cerebral palsy. They chose her because they had lost their own brother to the disease, and they understood those challenges in a way most people don’t. When they read the nomination and saw that mom was lifting the wheelchair into the home, that detail hit them hard. It brought them right back to their own brother’s struggle. They did not just sponsor the family. They offered to help find a workaround for the stairs, and even talked about building a ramp. 

I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes reflecting on that delivery, because it meant something to everyone in the room. It was not charity. It was connection. It was grief turning into love.

THE PART NO ONE SEES What people do not see is what happens behind the scenes. The long days, cold nights, exhaustion, and the “how are we going to make this work” moments. Our team of elves delivered morning to night for four days straight, and they wouldn't stop. They did not slow down, they did not complain, and they did not even want to pause long enough for lunch. They made each delivery special with so much purpose, bringing just as much magic as the gifts themselves.

This group has a bond that I cannot even explain. They are so evidently fueled by love and by this mission, and I am so grateful I get to do this with each of them.

COMMUNITY WRAPPING PARTIES

We had about 100 wrapping volunteers between our two community wrapping parties, and I’m still amazed by it. Volunteers came dressed in spirit, wrapping like it was a sport, and we could barely restock the tables fast enough. 2,000+ gifts were wrapped in a combination of about four hours. And the volunteers wanted to keep going.

I do not say this lightly. Windsor-Essex is special.

FROM ME

I could go on for hours about what this program means to me, and what each sponsor, volunteer, and family means to me. I’ll be honest, with the growth we experienced this year, there were days I cried. Days I didn’t think we would pull it off. Days I truly thought I was in over my head. But reading every nomination, I knew we had to keep going.

Then I would talk to a sponsor so eager to help. I would hear families cry on the phone when I told them they were chosen. I would watch volunteers wrapping until their hands hurt. I would see my team showing up again after already giving everything. And I’d think, we’re going to be okay, because this community has so much heart in this.

 Thank you for being part of this. Thank you for giving families a Christmas they will remember for the rest of their lives.  Christina Project Christmas Windsor