With Christmas day fast approaching , the present shopping rush is in full swing. Children everywhere are looking for the hottest toy or the latest game, your other half might be dropping hints about an expensive watch or even a trip away.
But sometimes the best gifts are the ones that cost almost nothing.
For mum-of-one Hayley Webster from Norfolk, that gift was a piece of sheet music that cost £1.50.
I'm going to write a thread about the nicest Christmas gift I ever received. I was nine years old. I think it cost the person who gave it to me about £1.50.
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
In a viral twitter thread, Webster shared the story of Christmas when she was nine years old. Due to her parents impending divorce, Webster and her younger sister were living with their father and his new girlfriend.
Not to be deterred by the upheaval in their young lives, Webster did her best to keep that holiday magic alive for her five-year-old sister.
I made my sister a card every day from Santa's elves and hid little gifts about the house, little glitter footprints, bought beautiful soaps from the gift shop in town in the shape of sea shells, and bells and apples using my savings, and wrapped them for her.
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
I put tinsel around the spoon for her yoghurt in her lunchbox. I made and cut her sandwiches into snowflakes or stars. When I put her to bed at night I made up stories about two girls called Hayley and Jodie who went to live with the elves.
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
The girls were fond of their father's girlfriend, who made efforts to connect with the girls and attempt to make the difficult time in their lives more fun.
One weekend, just before Christmas, she said to me, 'You've made Christmas really magical for your sister, you really have.' And I puffed up, all proud and happy. Then she said, 'It seems such a shame nobody does that for you.' I didn't really understand what she was saying.
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
That week, one morning, I came downstairs ready to make breakfast (porridge with LOADS of demerara sugar that soaked down to to the bottom. Recreate it. It's perfect). On the door mat was an A4 envelope with glitter on it.
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
It just said, 'To Hayley. Have a lovely Christmas. Thank you for all your help. Lots of love from Santa's elves xxx'
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
In the envelope was the sheet music to "We're Walking in the Air", a song that Webster had been attempting to teach herself on the piano for some time.
I had been working out how to play it myself, but I couldn't get it quite right. And there it was, in an envelope, just for me. I played it and played it and played it. It felt like the first time somebody had actually SEEN me.
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
It was the nicest thing, the loveliest, kindest, small, lovely thing. It made a difference to me, a huge difference. I remember it every year, every single year.
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
Webster then says that the encounter shaped how she views giving at Christmas.
It's something I try to do, not with gifts, but with actions. She taught me Christmas, is nothing to do with showing people you love them with big money spends. For me, it will always be about giving people what they need; attention, kindness, love.
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
And when that happens to me, when people do that for me, it literally lasts as warmth my whole life. Notice people. Show them they matter. It's the best advice I could ever give anyone. Not just at Christmas.
— Hayley Webster (@bookshaped) December 3, 2017
*cue the cheesy inspirational music*
The tweets have since gone viral, amassing nearly half a million likes and receiving attention from the likes of J.K Rowling:
This is so beautiful. https://t.co/4Af3rywdQs
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 3, 2017
This is the most beautifully written, honest reflection of what was clearly a difficult time. I’m sure the girlfriend has thought of you too, many times since that Christmas. In a world where we can be anything, we should always be kind.
— Elouise Johnstone (@PeeblesEllie) December 3, 2017
Merry Christmas to you and your sister
What a touching account - beautifully and simply told. Very, very moving. She must be a wonderful person. (The psychologist Alice Miller says that if a troubled child has even one person who reaches out to them and validates them, it can literally save their life.) Thank you.
— Pauline Meek (@Sadlybereft) December 3, 2017
Speaking to BBC News, Webster said, "I've never had anything that's gone so big before, it's very exciting."
She also said that her sister remembers the elves that Webster created for her, and now does the same with her own children.
A children's writer, Webster has hinted that this lovely story might even find it's way into a book. We really hope it does!