Photo credit: minnesota.publicradio.org

Earlier this week, the National Christmas Tree was lit by the first family following a 90 year holiday tradition. The president led the crowd of 17,000 by saying, “In times of war and peace, triumph and tragedy, we’ve always come together to rejoice in the Christmas miracle”.

The giant blue spruce that is now illuminated in bright green lights and ornaments is the third National Christmas Tree. The long-standing tree was knocked down by a storm in the previous year. It was quickly replaced, but that tree did not last. President Obama joked, “It just goes to show, nobody’s job is safe here in Washington,” “But I feel good about this one. It was planted just days before Hurricane Sandy, and it made it through the storm in one piece.”

A tribute was held to honor those who were affected by Hurricane Sandy. There were performances by Jason Mraz, James Taylor, Colbie Caillat, The Fray and many others.

Read more at ABC News

Photo Credit: www.foxcrawl.com

Three girls and their grandparents died in a house fire on Christmas morning in Connecticut.

10-year-old Lily Badger and her 7-year-old twin sisters Grace and Sarah Badger died of smoke inhalation, as did their mother’s parents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson.  Lomer Johnson had also suffered a blunt head and neck trauma.

It is believed that embers in a bag of discarded fireplace ashes started the fire.

Madonna Badger, the girl’s mother and the home’s owner, escaped from the fire.  Her friend Michael Borcina, a contractor working on the house, also survived.

Lomer Johnson had tried to go back into the house to save the girls.  Firefighters went into the house twice to try to rescue the family, but were forced out by the fire’s intensity.  Madonna Badger managed to escape by climbing out a window.

Madonna Badger and her husband Matthew Badger are currently getting divorced.  He was not at the house when it caught on fire.

Both families are currently devastated by the tragedy, but are finding comfort in each other and from public sympathy.

As the holidays near many families opt for the layaway plan Kmart offers as a means to pay for the gifts they wish to give to their children.  Unfortunately though, most people still can’t pay off their bills and fear their kids will not have Christmas gifts.

The country’s economy has been shaky to say the least and many are unemployed and without means to make a holiday happen for their families.  This year the Christmas spirit has hit and good Samaritans around the country are anonymously paying for some families’ layaway bills.

In Indianapolis one young father became the recipient of one of these generous gifts.  As he stood in line at a Kmart store with his three young children, all bedraggled and with the knowledge that he wouldn’t be able to pay off his bill, a mysterious woman approached and said, ‘No, I’m paying for it.’

That Tuesday the woman who wished to remain anonymous stayed did not leave the store until she paid the layaway bills for as many as fifty people.  She even handed out fifty-dollar bills to some people and paid for two carts full of toys for one family.  According to Edna Deppe, manager at the Indianapolis store, the woman was doing it in the memory of her husband.  The only thing the woman would tell those she helped was, ‘Remember Ben.’

In Omaha, one nurse, Dona Bremser, received a call at work from an employee at Kmart telling her someone had finished paying off her layaway account that still held seventy dollars.  Similar calls were made to others in Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, Montana, and Indiana.  The holiday generosity started in Michigan according to Kmart executives, and somehow the news spread.

Although the good deeds are being taken care of mostly in Kmart stores, there are some Wal-Mart stores that have seen the phenomenon as well.  As the Christmas spirit continues to spread many are shedding tears of joy and gratitude.