Mystery Man Pays Off Layaway Items at Walmart (Santa, it's Santa Claus)

anonymous man pays off layaway at Vermont walmart

A mysterious man brought some early holiday cheer to shoppers at a Walmart in Vermont after paying off every item on layaway. 

According to WCAX-TV, the anonymous would-be Santa Claus paid off the entire lot of layaway items at the Walmart store in Derby, near the Canadian border without a second thought last week. 

"I don't even think I can find the words to say," Julie Gates of Eden Mills told the television station. 

The layaway storage room filled floor to ceiling with items put aside by customers until they could pay for them were all paid for by the mystery man. Walmart wouldn't say how much the man spent, or how many people went home with free gifts. 

Gates says she asked the man who could possibly afford to pay for everyone's layaway. 

To which the unselfish benefactor responded (likely with a wink and a twinkle in his eye), "Santa Claus can." 

The man declined to give his name and didn't want to be identified. 

For many - there was much more than just free presents being paid for on layaway. One shopper, Tammy Desautels from North Troy said money's been tough since her husband broke his foot. The gifts being paid for are now one thing that she won't have to worry about while going into winter. 

"It was kind of like surreal when they said no balance due, then it was really a reality," Desautels said.

Gates said she got goosebumps thinking about the man's generosity so close to the holidays. 

"That is the true magic of Christmas, that's the Christmas spirit walking among us," said Gates.