HILLSBORO, TX — A Hill County family says they are still thankful even after a house fire took everything from them, including Christmas.
The family says, sacrifice and purpose pulled them through a disaster.
"Those are the nights I wanted to cry. I did cry, every night," said Hope Drag, who says her life changed one September day as she returned home from taking her daughter for a doctor visit.
She suddenly had no home to return to.
"I was devastated. I was like, "What in the world just happened?"" she remembered.
Fire investigators said an electrical problem with a deep freeze caused the fire that burned though the middle of her home in Hillsboro, taking 48 years of hard work and memories with it.
"The roof is unrepairable," Drag commented.
What the fire didn't get, water did, leaving her with piles of charred or melted furniture and Christmas on the way.
The family lost every single thing they had.
"The firemen just threw everything out," Drag recalled.
Suddenly, she and her two children had to start over with nothing and nowhere to go. After losing everything, Drag said one thing pulled her through.
She focused on her children, giving up things she needed to put just a little bit away each week to give them some kind of Christmas.
It hurt, she said, but she didn't want her children to know the despair and the fear she felt.
"You've got to do it day by day. You've got to suck it up and just say, "Okay, one more day,"" she explained.
By Christmas, Drag had a new roof over her family's head in Waco.
Her children had a couple of presents under the tree, but she said the family still needs so much more.
"Blankets, curtains, you know, little things for the house," she said.
Because after sacrificing her own needs to give her children a Christmas, she now wants to give them a home.
If you'd like to get in touch with Hope of help her in any way, click here.
