Salvation Army's Angel Tree, a favorite holiday giving mystery

ASHEVILLE – For as long as I can remember, my Christmases have always involved giving, not just to friends and family, but to total strangers whom I only know from a tag.
Every year growing up, our church would have a Salvation Army Angel Tree in the back. Without fail, one Sunday my mom would take us to pick out a child. Not all families can afford gifts, she would explain. Pick someone to help out. I used to think this was glorious fun. Some years I'd pick a baby, other years I'd find someone my own age. I would daydream about the person I was helping, using the clues provided. I knew their name, gender and age. There was also a short wish list, so I knew the things they liked.

Buying Angel Tree gifts and wondering about the children behind the tags is a tradition I carried with me into adulthood. Each year, as I do my own Christmas shopping, I always grab one or two tags from the Angel Tree at the mall. New to Asheville, I was delighted a few weeks ago when a colleague told me that the Citizen-Times participates in Angel Tree giving. She left two tags on my desk — one for a middle-school-aged boy named Jonathan who wanted a basketball, and another for a girl, Nashana, who was addicted to Barbie and Hello Kitty.

When the Salvation Army of Buncombe County invited me to come volunteer at the toy giveaway and actually watch parents come and get their gifts, I couldn't believe it. After all these years, I was finally going to see the faces behind the tags.

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