This year, the holidays were finally going to be special for a single mother and her children.

She had overcome homelessness and freed herself from an abusive relationship.

Her teenage son and 8-year-old daughter were thriving in their new school, and they had settled in to a comfortable routine.

Then came the terrible news.

"I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cervical cancer and have lost my job," the mother writes Globe Santa. "Due to the emergency surgery and extended hospital stays, I have fallen behind on all of my bills."

Of course, it's not just finances that suffer when a parent falls ill. Her children are old enough to know what cancer is - and that it could take their mother from them - and they're scared.

Their birthdays this year were both disappointments because she couldn't afford to buy either of them a gift, and she doesn't want the holidays to be a repeat performance.

"Anything that your organization can do for my family would be greatly appreciated," she writes.

For the parents of a 1-year-old girl, the joy of welcoming their firstborn to the world was supplanted by fear when she was born with serious health complications.

The child's mother could not work for months while her daughter was in the neonatal intensive care unit. Her husband is employed, she wrote, but doesn't earn nearly enough to support the family on his own.

"We are back almost $6,000 in rent," she writes.

Their little girl has made a full recovery, but without a visit from Globe Santa, the holidays won't be all that celebratory.

"[My daughter] is home, healthy and flourishing...but I need your help to make this Christmas amazing for her."

Sadly, job loss, divorce, death of a loved one, drug addiction, homelessness, and health problems are familiar hardships to many families who write to Globe Santa.

But there are also hundreds of requests from parents, grandparents, guardians, and other caretakers whose struggles are not the result of a catastrophe.

They work hard, pay their bills, and set a good example for their children.

And still don't have enough money to buy gifts for the holidays.

"This year has been the most rewarding time and the most challenging time of my life," a single mother of twin 4-year-olds writes Globe Santa. "My little ones bring me so much joy, but as you can imagine, raising twins on my own has stretched my resources thin. I'm struggling to make this season as magical as I'd hoped."

She turned to Globe Santa because her children deserve to be remembered during the holidays. Like thousands of other families throughout Greater Boston, she knows that without help, they will be let down.

"This Christmas, I want nothing more than to see my babies smile," she writes. "Even the smallest gesture would mean the world to us and would help me show them the warmth and love that this season is all about."

She wrapped up her letter with the most commonly expressed sentiment in requests to Globe Santa - gratitude.

"Thank you for all that you do for families like mine. Your kindness and generosity are truly inspiring."