BALTIMORE — River Micelli is excitedly wheeling around the Christmas tree. The three-year-old is looking at all the presents under it. But which one does she want?
The presents…all donated. Guests at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in downtown Baltimore make the holiday special. Their gifts are going to children staying at the nearby Ronald McDonald House.
“Moms want to make Christmas really magical,” says River’s mom, Maggie Whalen. “It's hard to do when you're not home, so we really appreciate all the generosity.”
The family is from upstate New York. They've been at the Ronald McDonald House for 13 weeks.
“Oh my God,” Whalen says through tears. “Everything. Everything. They provided a loving home and a family while we're so far away from ours.”
A few more weeks to go before River's treatment is done. The kindness in Baltimore is encouraging.
“We've seen it in September. We've seen it for Halloween. We've seen it over Thanksgiving. And now Christmas,” Whalen says. “We didn't think it could get any better.”
The family helped collect the gifts for the Stuff the Shuttle toy drive. Hotel workers loaded up the Ronald McDonald House bus.
“It's just a wonderful reminder that there is so much goodness out there,” she says.
Then they loaded River on her special sleigh, and not quite over the river and through the woods, but the feeling of the holiday spirit was still the same as they delivered the gifts under the tree their home away from home.
