A brighter Christmas for Khashane Palmer-Walker

After having gone through a number of personal financial hurdles in recent times, Khashane Palmer-Walker is convinced that her Christmas will become a whole lot brighter, following her being selected as recipient in the Wish Upon The STAR promotion.

"It makes me feel happy, and if I believed in Santa, I would say, 'Yes, Santa Claus is true.' But I believe in God, and I had prayed about it, and I think I am getting my Christmas wish, and my Christmas looks much brighter," Palmer-Walker, 27, of Lilliput, St James, told THE STAR.

The Wish Upon THE STAR promotion aims to make this Christmas merry for some families by providing them with $50,000 in cash and prizes. Telecommunication firm Digicel and the NCB Foundation have partnered with THE STAR to bring Christmas cheers to Jamaicans.

"I can smile and say, 'Yes, I finally get to win something,' because I have never won anything yet. The RJRGLEANER Communications Group has made my Christmas much brighter, and I thank you for considering me even though I know there were a lot of other applications."

The gifts are very timely for Palmer-Walker, a cashier at the Flamingo Service Station near Salt Marsh, Trelawny, as she was struggling with managing a number of financial obligations.

"I have a lot of bills to take care of, and this Christmas did not look so wonderful at all because I got paid on Friday, December 9, and by the Saturday I did not even have a dollar," she said.

Palmer-Walker's greatest desire is for her and her husband to establish their own Christmas family tradition with their children, who are currently residing with their grandmother in Portland.

"Growing up with my grandmother, Christmas was about family get-togethers. We used to cook six different meats, like mutton, cow, goat, chicken, and fish. We got to go to Grand Market and see people who we had not seen in a long time, and I always got new clothes from foreign," Palmer-Walker recalled.

"Sometimes I remember those Christmases, and I say, 'God, I want to start my own tradition,' because that was their tradition. It was good, growing up as a child, but I want to make my own tradition with my family," Palmer-Walker added.