This hilarious story from 2019 will leave you laughing until you cry and remind you of the “magic” of Christmas.
Like most people, mom blogger and author Mary Katherine Backstrom was feeling the holiday spirit in December.
Backstrom was at a local Wawa gas station in Fort Myers, Florida, trying to burn some time before picking up her kids from school.
She read a Christmas article about how everybody is so generous over the holidays, making everything magical. Reading the piece inspired her to be extra generous, so she paid for the ginger ale of the woman ordering behind her.
When the stranger asked her about the kind gesture, Backstrom said she was just feeling the holiday magic and joked that she couldn’t afford to buy other people Starbucks, as all those other givers do.
The woman laughed, and Backstrom bought her ginger ale, greeting her with a joyous “Happy holidays!” before they parted ways.
It was definitely a precious moment, and Backstrom felt pretty happy about what she did.
Backstrom walked out of the store and saw a man cleaning her car’s windshield. She was utterly convinced the gesture was a “Christmas magic,” so she walked up to the man and said, “This is my favorite part of humanity. I love Christmas so much. Thank you for doing this.”
Then, Backstrom gave him a hug. But within seconds, she realized her mistake—it wasn’t her car!
The man had just parked directly in front of her and was cleaning his own windshield.
“It took a second for him to realize that it was not my car, and he didn’t know why I was hugging him. I think he thought I was insane!” Backstrom said.
Upon realizing what she had done, the mom of two couldn’t control herself and immediately started crying with laughter.
“I just walked away. Because what do you do? I just got in my car and drove to a different parking spot so I could tell y’all about it,” she said.
Backstrom thinks the man eventually figured out what happened when he realized that her car was the same as his.
Backstrom ended the video with this: “I don’t know what’s going on in your day. But unless you’re hugging strangers in a gas station parking lot, you’re probably doing pretty good.”
Her laugh-filled viral video, which has racked up 106 million views, landed Backstrom a guesting on The Ellen Degeneres Show, where she was awarded a check for $20,000.
Turns out, Backstrom has done so many other good deeds, including paying for her friends’ bills, donating a kidney to her uncle, and helping a waitress get her car fixed.
Backstrom runs a blog called MomBabble, where she posts content for new wives and mothers to help navigate their new life as a parent.
So much for Christmas magic! Listen to Backstrom herself as she retells the hilarious encounter in the video below. Also follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
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