It's an unimaginable thought that the moment you go to gather all your children's gifts to put under the tree on Christmas Eve you discover they'd all had the Grinch treatment and been stolen.
This devastation was the reality for one mum who found she'd been burgled on the evening of 24 December and all the wrapped presents she'd been storing in her garage had gone.
Advert
Mum-of-two Suzie Purvis told The Chronicle Live: "The garage is about 10m away from our house and I went to get all the presents in so the children could open them the next morning.
"When I opened the garage, there was nothing there. Everything had gone. It took me about 10 seconds to realise someone had broken in and taken them all. The only thing left was a box of Jaffa Cakes.
"They took the toys I had got for my children as well as gifts for friends and family. There were clothes, selection boxes, little stocking fillers and other presents. I didn't know what to do."
Immediately, Suzie alerted the police to what happened and put a message on social media explaining what had happened - but, the moment people saw her post the gifts started to flood in.
Advert
Suzie thought Christmas had been ruined for her two young children - Theo, age 4, and Jude, age 2 - then the dozens of kind-hearted people restored her faith in humanity when they donated loads of gifts for her Children.
Even people that didn't know Suzie or her family surprised them with games, toys and other presents, leaving them all overwhelmed.
Suzie said: "I can't even begin to thank all those people who came forward and gave us presents. We went from being heartbroken on Christmas Eve to absolutely overwhelmed the next morning.
"People were sending us gifts all evening. It got to a point where I had to tell them there was no more room in my living room."
Her home was inundated with present, she explained that a group of friends started rallying round and organising putting gifts together and the message spread so far even people she didn't know got involved.
Advert
Christmas morning then became very emotional for Suzie and 'magical'.
"I was totally overwhelmed by the generosity. And the boys had a magical morning.
"To see their little faces when they got up - it brought me to tears. It was very emotional. We thought our Christmas was ruined but all these people came to save our Christmas and it made it all the more special for us."
As so many presents, and other items, were donated to the family, Suzie decided to give extra gifts away - food has been donated to foodbanks and extra gifts have gone to the children's wards at Sunderland Royal Hospital and the University Hospital of North Durham.
Advert
Northumbria Police are still investigating the incident.
Featured Image Credit: NCJMediaTopics: Christmas, UK News, Inspirational, Community