--- title: Mom Loves Christmas So Much, She Makes Embarrassing Mistake description: With the holiday season in full swing, people are spreading Christmas cheer. But this Florida mom may have spread the cheer a bit too much. canonical: https://time.com/5747205/holiday-spirit-christmas-mom/ author: Rachel E. Greenspan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-12-10T16:39:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:07.312Z og:title: 'Christmas Is So Magical.' Woman Is Really Feeling the Holiday Spirit Thanks to Comical Misunderstanding og:description: A comical misunderstanding og:url: https://time.com/5747205/holiday-spirit-christmas-mom/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1cf8ac1b74f63731/698a0731457a52d12bd6338f/Christmas-giving.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: Season to Give. Truck carrying roll of dollars with holiday background og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Christmas Is So Magical.' Woman Is Really Feeling the Holiday Spirit Thanks to Comical Misunderstanding twitter:description: A comical misunderstanding twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1cf8ac1b74f63731/698a0731457a52d12bd6338f/Christmas-giving.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Christmas Is So Magical.' Woman Is Really Feeling the Holiday Spirit Thanks to Comical Misunderstanding > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Dec 10, 2019 4:39 PM UTC  Season to Give. Truck carrying roll of dollars with holiday background Season to Give. Truck carrying roll of dollars with holiday background Getty Images by [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Dec 10, 2019 4:39 PM UTC With the holiday season in full swing, people everywhere are spreading Christmas cheer. But in her effort to keep the spirit alive, one Florida mom ended with what she called an embarrassing situation. Her comical misunderstanding soon went viral. [Blogger and author Mary Katherine Backstrom](https://www.facebook.com/MomBabble/) of “Mom Babble” took to Facebook to share the experience with her 368,000 followers. “I can’t even contain myself,” she said, crying-laughing while trying to tell the story. At Wawa, the gas station and convenience store, Backstrom was in the mood to give back, so she offered to pay for the next person in line’s ginger ale. The woman was appreciative and it was a “precious moment,” Backstrom said in the video. When she left the store, she said she was “still in this mindset that the holidays are so magical.” That’s when she thought she saw a man washing her car’s windshield. Naturally, she approached him. “‘This is my favorite part of humanity! I love Christmas so much, thank you for doing this,'” Backstrom recalls saying to the kind stranger. “And I gave him a hug.” The only issue? It wasn’t her car. He was just washing his own car, parked right in front of his. “I just had to share this with y’all because I’m out here hugging strangers at the gas station, because the magic of Christmas is so powerful,” she said. Clearly, this resonated with people—the video, originally posted on Friday, has amassed 33 million views and 118,000 shares on Facebook as of Tuesday morning. Hear the full story of Backstrom’s funny story below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5747205/holiday-spirit-christmas-mom/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5747205/holiday-spirit-christmas-mom/"},"headline":"'Christmas Is So Magical.' 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