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It may be springtime, but the following story proves that the Christmas spirit can last all year round. Recently, Good Morning America reported a story that proves that good Samaritans do exist. And in fact, they’re hiding in plain sight.

In December, 4-year-old twins Luna and Gianella Gonzalez released two red balloons in the air with their Christmas wishlist to Santa attached to them.

According to their mom Leticia Gonzalez, the little ceremony was meant to be something “different” for the girls–“a memory they could keep after a rough 2020.”

Their mom didn’t think anything would come out of the balloons. Like a message in a bottle, she assumed that the girls’ wishlist wouldn’t reach anyone else’s eyes. “It was a windy day and I just thought it was going to get lost, caught up in a tree.”

It was to her surprise, then, when Louisiana man Alvin Bamburg contacted her via Facebook after finding a wishlist over 600 miles away in Grand Cane, Louisiana.

Bamburg had been deer hunting when he came across Luna’s discarded balloon and wishlist. The list asked Santa for candy, a Spider-Man ball, a “Frozen” doll, My Little Pony, and a puppy. Touched, he posted a photo of the note to Santa to his Facebook page.

“Found this in the woods in Grand Cane, LA,” Bamburg wrote. “Would love to know when it was launched. Looks like it traveled over 600 miles. Feel free to share.”

Bamburg’s family and friends did their duty and shared the post liberally. Soon, Bamburg was able to get in touch with the Gonzalez family.

He updated his post: “We have heard from the mom and are going to work with her to figure out the best way to grant her daughters’ wishes. Stay tuned…”

After talking with Leticia Gonzalez, and with the help of some generous donations from friends and family, Bamburg shipped a belated Christmas package to Liberal, Kansas.

Naturally, Bamburg didn’t ship the puppy from the wishlist in the package. But, that’s where the magic of the story comes in.

With Leticia Gonzalez’s blessing, Bamburg and his wife planned a trip to Kansas to meet the family for the first time and deliver a brand new puppy to the girls. Good Morning America filmed the entire meet-up.

Bamburg, Luna and Gianella all played with the puppy on the front lawn of their house. Leticia Gonzalez told GMA that Bamburg is now part of their family. “We are very blessed,” she said through tears. “Thank you. Thank you for making my girls so happy.”

Bamburg, himself, was almost as happy as the twin girls were, if not happier. “If you can make one person smile — trust me not only will it help them, it will make you feel so much better,” he said.

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This Christmas, unfortunately, is going to be tough for a lot of people. With the coronavirus pandemic still waging on, many of us have had to make the tough decision to stay home for the holidays. That means no traveling out of town or visiting extended family like we have in years past.

If you come from a family that likes to get into the competitive spirit and play games over the holidays, then giving up that tradition might feel too disappointing. Luckily, we can all rely on technology to keep us connected in these trying times when we’re forced to be apart.

We’ve compiled a list of Zoom-friendly games that you can play with your family over the holidays and beyond. Take a peak at our fun picks below!

1. Charades

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This one’s an easy one. All you have to do is create a Zoom link, send it out to family members and pick a topic to act out. If you’re having trouble thinking of a word, trying using a Charades word generator.

2. Card Games

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Who says a little old pandemic can keep us from playing cards with our loved ones? For many of us, playing cards with our family is as steadfast a holiday tradition as exchanging gifts is. Log on to https://playingcards.io/ to create a custom game room to share with your family.

3. Bingo

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Think about it: Bingo is the perfect game to play over Zoom. Websites like https://myfreebingocards.com/virtual-bingo have virtual bingo games you can play for free with up to 30 participants!

4. Heads Up!

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Heads Up! is a game in which a player has to guess which word/topic is on their phone screen by the clues their team members are giving them. In order to make the most of this game, players at each Zoom location will have to download the Heads Up! app on their phone. And after that, it’s smooth sailing.

5. All Bad Cards (aka Cards Against Humanity)

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If you’re the type of family that likes to push the envelope over a game of Cards Against Humanity, consider logging onto https://allbad.cards/. All you have to do is generate a party room and send the link out to the members of your “party”. Then, you’re ready to go!

6. Pictionary

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Pictionary is the kind of game that Zoom was practically invented for. In order to play this game, you’ll have to fire up Zoom’s whiteboard tool and share your screen with all of the participating players. Again, if you can’t think of a topic, get some help with a Pictionary random word generator.

7. Trivial Pursuit

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You’ll have to own this classic board game in order to play over Zoom, but if you do, setting it up and playing is super easy. In order to make this game user-friendly for all participants, make sure there’s someone in your location that can play on the same team as someone in a different Zoom location. That way, all the players can be sure that there’s no cheating involved.

8. Outburst

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If you’re a fan of Family Feud, then Outburst is probably right up your alley. This game requires that each player brainstorm lists off of a given topic (i.e. Top Ten Christmas songs). Unfortunately, there is no virtual or online version of the game, but instead, team members can take turns coming up with topics and having other players brainstorm lists.

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