Golden fifth graders learn the true meaning of the holidays

“I shall honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year,” promises Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Reading the classic Charles Dickens story inspired fifth grade teachers and students at Golden Elementary School to honor the novella’s theme of charity. A trove of gifts were purchased for a PYLUSD family experiencing very difficult circumstances. After her husband passed away last summer, a mother and her five children moved in with a relative. Recently, that relative was also diagnosed with a serious illness. At the sight of the mountain of gifts, the children were overjoyed, and the mother was very grateful that they “would have a Christmas after all.” Though the presents may have been opened in a matter of minutes, the feeling of giving will stay with these Golden fifth graders all year long.