Five-year-old Simon Fieler refused to let illness rob him of his season's mission: Make sure youngsters at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio got a special toy.
Simon, who suffers from aplastic anemia, a disorder in which the bone marrow doesn't produce enough new blood cells, donated 250 toys to children on Thursday.
His story is just one of the tales of unexpected gifts and acts of kindness found by NBC stations and msnbc.com local partner newspapers nationwide.
Simon spent 11 days at the Cincinnati hospital in August undergoing treatments to restart his immune system. Now, he visits the hospital once or twice per week for blood tests and infusions.
During the Thanksgiving holiday, Simon's mother, Stephanie Fieler, posted on her blog how thankful she was for the hospital staff and said she wanted to donate to the program, according to WLWT in Ohio.
Soon after, Simon and his brother, Elliott, 2, bought toys with their own money, and their community rallied around the cause.
Wearing a mask to protect him from germs, Simon and his mother unloaded the toys from an SUV and delivered them to the hospital.
"Deep down, Simon's really beaming inside. And under that mask, there is a smile," his mother said.
Skid Row Santa strikes again
Skid Row's own Santa Claus has made his annual visit to Los Angeles' Skid Row — handing out $10 bills to thousands of destitute people who queued up for several hours to receive the gift.
The 69-year-old retired lawyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said Thursday he's been giving away $20,000 of his own money every year over the past 30 years at the Midnight Mission.
Dressed in red, the benefactor says he's always moved by the appreciation and gratitude that homeless people show. He estimates about 3,000 people receive $10 bills every Yuletide.
The donor is one of several who hand out money on Skid Row on certain days of the year. Critics say the homeless would be better served if donations were made to one of the many area charities.
Facebook friends share Christmas spirit
A mother of two with disabilities received holiday gifts for the first time, thanks to Facebook friends.
"My children and I have never celebrated Christmas," Josefina Martinez, 34, told NBC 5 News in Chicago.
It all started when NBC 5 News asked its Facebook friends to suggest a family in need of donations.
"I thought a light needed to be shined on children with disabilities," said Julie Lee, a social worker who reached out to NBC 5's Zoraida Sambolin.
Josefina's life had been a constant struggle.
Her 22-month-old daughter, Yudith, has cerebral palsy and limited eyesight. Her son, Jose, 8, is blind and has multiple learning disabilities, Martinez said.
She said her husband abandoned her.
Once Martinez and her family were selected, Facebook friends descended on her tiny apartment to bring Christmas cheer earlier in the week, NBC 5 reported.
Families stocked the pantry with nonperishable food items and flooded the family with gifts.
"I've never received gifts like this, I never have," Martinez said.
'Signing Santa'
The Santa at the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano, Texas, speaks a special language.
More than 150 children from the Plano-area's hearing-impaired community went on a field trip to Willow Bend to see the Santa who knows sign language.
"This is truly the best thing that happens to our kids all year long ," said Sarah Schubert, a teacher at Mesquite Lawrence Elementary, KXAS, NBC News' Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate, reported. "They came up to me this morning and said, you know that Santa can sign with us?"
The man behind the big Santa suit, who didn't want his name used, said he loves signing with the kids.
"I sign to them and say, come up and see Santa Claus, and their eyes and their mouths are just open wide and they go 'Wow!' And sometimes they just run and they're expression is just, it's ... it's priceless," Santa said. "Some people can make mistakes signing, but the expressions, that explains everything."
After a fire, an outpouring of giving
Residents of
one community opened their hearts and home
to a Pennsylvania family who lost everything in a fire.
Casey Hamilton, her boyfriend and her children lost their mobile home and their possessions to a blaze Dec. 21, according to WBRE, an NBC News affiliate in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Once word of the fire got out donations began pouring in — everyday necessities, toys, clothing and cash.
People of Taylor, Pa., donated food, including several turkeys. With the home in ruins, the trailer park community of Maple Manor allowed the family to stay in another trailer on Tamworth Drive.
"They just came through for these little kids to give them the Christmas that they were afraid they weren't going to get," said John Tigue, a Taylor councilman and firefighter.
Good deed rescues mom
Christopher Weir believes in doing good.
When the firefighter discovered a stranded motorist on Clyde Morris Boulevard near City Center in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, he stopped to help.
Heather Manolas, a 33-year-old Orlando nurse, and her 2-year-old son, were inside the broken-down car. Manolas said she had no family or friends within 50 miles, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
After unsuccessful attempts to jump-start the dead battery, Weir recommended that she buy a new one.
"I told him I only had $50 in my bank account," Manolas told the News-Journal.
So Weir headed to a store and returned with a new $85 battery — an early Christmas gift to a stranger.
"I was in tears that he would do that," said Manolas, the News-Journal reported.
"She was scared. It was something I could afford to get her back home. I was glad to do it," Weir said. "Besides, this is the season to do good deeds."
Santa's rounds in Peoria
In Peoria, a group of children at Children's Hospital of Illinois got an early treat from one of St. Nick's helpers — Bill Turney.
For the past 14 years, Turney has been making the rounds at the Children's Hospital, Methodist Medical Center and Pekin Hospital in Illinois, NBC News affiliate WEEK-TV in Peoria reported.
Patients are grateful.
"Those small things, they lift my spirits. You just have to make the best of it, and you just have to keep a smile on your face and know that one day you'll be better," 16-year-old Morgan Conklin-Lopez told WEEK.
She said she'll likely be in the hospital through New Year's.
"My heart goes out to these kids and I just want to hug every one of them and let them know that they're not forgotten even though they're in the hospital at Christmas," Turney said.