Man surprises local family with Christmas Tree

By CHARITY SMITH

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Ironwood - An Ironwood family received an early Christmas present Tuesday after a family friend showed up on their doorstep with a Christmas tree he purchased as a surprise for the single mother of three and her kids.

"Oh my goodness. Oh my God, wow," Jackie Little exclaimed as her friend Richard Little surprised her with a Christmas Tree.

She said that she was just blown away with his gesture. Richard had intended to deliver the tree on foot, but was given a ride part of the way there.

Little said he decided on a whim to surprise his friend Jackie and her three children with a Christmas tree because he knew they were having a hard time.

"I've been in hard situations myself and people helped me out," Little said. "This way, three young kids will have a good Christmas."

He said that doing random acts of kindness is just part of who he is. He said his uncle used to dress up as Santa and go door-to-door delivering candy and gifts to families and his father used to go to the store and buy yellow roses to give to random ladies, which he also likes to do in his father's memory.

Richard said he and Jackie met three years ago at a local business and became good friends.

Jackie is originally from Anchorage, Alaska and came to the area to complete her masters in non-profit business management, and she wanted to become more "plugged-in" to the community. However, she has now been taking care of her son - who has special needs - and with the pandemic, it has just been a struggle.

"I'm actually living out every little bit of those areas I'm hoping to help," she said.

She said that she previously wasn't going to put up a tree or do much for Christmas, as she simply couldn't afford it this year. She said she planned on doing a simple Christmas and crocheting some things.

"We are just going to try and make it pretty cozy and see what we can do," she said.