Woman shares how much her 'Angel Tree' gifts meant to her as a child in touching video
Some acts of kindness are unforgettable.

A woman shares how much her 'angle Tree" gifts meant to her as a kid
Every year, the Salvation Army Angel Tree helps provide a little bit of Christmas magic to thousands of children across the country who might otherwise miss out.
The way it works is simple: children and senior adults are assigned donors, aka “Angels” in the community, whom they share a personal Christmas wish list with. The angels then purchase those items, which are distributed semi-anonymously.
As a child with incarcerated parents, I was an Angel Tree kid, and I can still remember the feeling I got opening up the exact art set my heart yearned for. It was the feeling of truly being seen.
Getting my Angel Tree present was about more than just accumulating stuff—it reminded me that there were adults I could count on (even if I didn’t actually know them) and it allowed me to simply be a kid again for a moment, during a time when that often seemed impossible.
It’s these types of priceless memories the Angels provide, with little to no awareness of how deeply their generosity impacted the lives of those they gave to.
Recently, a woman named Ahsley ( with the TikTok handle @maybashleymarie) recounted her own life-changing experience as a former Angel Tree kid, and the video is going viral.
“When I was about 16, I lived in a homeless shelter with my parents,” she said in the clip. “And I remember when everybody came around and asked us what we wanted to put on our list for the angel tree, I was writing this out. And I thought about it really hard because there was stuff that I wanted, but there was also stuff that I really needed. Because as a kid in a shelter, you basically have the clothes that are on your back and that's it.”
But being in survival mode didn’t stop the teenager from wanting teenagery things, and so she put hoop earrings, black Converse sneakers, black eye liner, jeans, and a Playboy Bunny blanket on her list.
Not only did her Angel deliver, she “went above and beyond.” Ashley received not just one pair of hoop earrings, but 24 pairs in various shapes and sizes, enough black eyeliner to last her for years, skinny jeans with the tag still in place so Ashley could get her proper size, and bona fide name brand Converse sneakers, though she would have been completely content with generic.
Plus, much to her surprise, Ashley got that Playboy Bunny blanket—her favorite item on the list.
“I did not think at all, not one bit that that lady was going to actually give me a Playboy Bunny blanket, but when I opened that light pink blanket that said Playboy all across it, I was so excited. I was so happy. I still have that blanket to this day.”
Recently there has been a trend among influencers to go out to make Angel Tree donations, which inspired Ashley to make her video in the first place.
“I have to say, I am so thankful for all of these influencers and all these people with real money to be able to go out and actually buy gifts for these kids because you have absolutely no idea, no idea the difference that it makes in their lives and how that'll be lifetime memories for them,” she concluded.
The touching video received 3.2 million views, with several people sharing how much Ashley’s story moved them—even making them want to become Angels themselves.
“Seeing the other side of the angel tree just made me ball my eyes out, and now I must go do one,” one person wrote.
Other fellow Angel Tree kids, chimed in with their own experiences. One shared, “I was an angel tree kid when my parents were in rehab. It really does make a kid’s whole world.”
Another wrote, “I asked for the last book in the Lemony Snicket series and they bought me the whole series…hardback.”
If you’re curious about participating in the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program, you can find out more info at SalvationArmyUSA.org






A woman is getting angry at her coworker.via
A man with tape over his mouth.via
A husband is angry with his wife. via 
a man sitting at a desk with his head on his arms Photo by
Can a warm cup of tea help you sleep better? If you believe it, then yes. Photo by 
Three women sit on a blanket in the park. 
Two women engaging in a pleasant conversation inside a coffee shop
Two men engaging in a peaceful disagreement.
Resurfaced video of French skier's groin incident has people giving the announcer a gold medal
"The boys took a beating on that one."
Downhill skiing is a sport rife with injuries, but not usually this kind.
A good commentator can make all the difference when watching sports, even when an event goes smoothly. But it's when something goes wrong that great announcers rise to the top. There's no better example of a great announcer in a surprise moment than when French skier Yannick Bertrand took a gate to the groin in a 2007 super-G race.
Competitive skiers fly down runs at incredible speeds, often exceeding 60 mph. Hitting something hard at that speed would definitely hurt, but hitting something hard with a particularly sensitive part of your body would be excruciating. So when Bertrand slammed right into a gate family-jewels-first, his high-pitched scream was unsurprising. What was surprising was the perfect commentary that immediately followed.
This is a clip you really just have to see and hear to fully appreciate:
- YouTube youtu.be
It's unclear who the announcer is, even after multiple Google inquiries, which is unfortunate because that gentleman deserves a medal. The commentary gets better with each repeated viewing, with highlights like:
"The gate the groin for Yannick Bertrand, and you could hear it. And if you're a man, you could feel it."
"Oh, the Frenchman. Oh-ho, monsieurrrrrr."
"The boys took a beating on that one."
"That guy needs a hug."
"Those are the moments that change your life if you're a man, I tell you what."
"When you crash through a gate, when you do it at high rate of speed, it's gonna hurt and it's going to leave a mark in most cases. And in this particular case, not the area where you want to leave a mark."
Imagine watching a man take a hit to the privates at 60 mph and having to make impromptu commentary straddling the line between professionalism and acknowledging the universal reality of what just happened. There are certain things you can't say on network television that you might feel compelled to say. There's a visceral element to this scenario that could easily be taken too far in the commentary, and the inherent humor element could be seen as insensitive and offensive if not handled just right.
The announcer nailed it. 10/10. No notes.
The clip frequently resurfaces during the Winter Olympic Games, though the incident didn't happen during an Olympic event. Yannick Bertrand was competing at the FIS World Cup super-G race in Kvitfjell, Norway in 2007, when the unfortunate accident occurred. Bertrand had competed at the Turin Olympics the year before, however, coming in 24th in the downhill and super-G events.
As painful as the gate to the groin clearly as, Bertrand did not appear to suffer any damage that kept him from the sport. In fact, he continued competing in international downhill and super-G races until 2014.
According to a 2018 study, Alpine skiing is a notoriously dangerous sport with a reported injury rate of 36.7 per 100 World Cup athletes per season. Of course, it's the knees and not the coin purse that are the most common casualty of ski racing, which we saw clearly in U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn's harrowing experiences at the 2026 Olympics. Vonn was competing with a torn ACL and ended up being helicoptered off of the mountain after an ugly crash that did additional damage to her legs, requiring multiple surgeries (though what caused the crash was reportedly unrelated to her ACL tear). Still, she says she has no regrets.
As Bertrand's return to the slopes shows, the risk of injury doesn't stop those who live for the thrill of victory, even when the agony of defeat hits them right in the rocks.