But it wasn't just any Christmas shopping spree that caused all of this emotion. It was what some participants called a shopping extravaganza—and all because of a Yuletide tradition started 14 years ago by Stephen and Leanne Troy of Los Gatos.

The husband and wife started a Los Gatos-based business in their garage in 1987. Since then, their company, AeroFund Financial Inc., has grown to become a prosperous San Jose-headquartered financial services institution. Every year, the company involves its employees in a unique, philanthropic gift-giving gala that benefits underprivileged children and families throughout the South Bay.

The Blossom Hill Road Toys 'R' Us opened extra early on Dec. 7 just for the 25 AeroFund employees, including Stephen Troy. The company's employees, donning Santa hats and smiles, spent about three hours with Geoffrey the giraffe, shopping for about $12,000 in presents for five South Bay charities. Stephen even did some of the shopping for the children himself, loading his cart with teddy bears, art supplies, toy cellular phones and race cars.

"It seems to change every year with what the kids want, and it's not easy," he says. "Our employees really take the time in picking out the toys for the children they are buying for."

The compassionate custom has evolved through the years, and now instead of buying gifts for unidentified children, Stephen says the task has become more personal. AeroFund employees received 3-by-5 cards from the charities, each one including the name of a child, whether they were male or female, the child's age and a guideline of one developmentally age-appropriate gift that the child requested for Christmas.

"It's become very organized over the years," Stephen says of the program that this year donated toys to Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County, EMQ Children and Family Services, Heritage Home, Hope Services, and InnVision the Way Home.

He stressed the importance of making sure that the gift was something meaningful the child would use for an extended period of time, and wouldn't lose value just weeks after Christmas.

"You want to make sure it's something that's really special to them," he says. "We feel it's in the spirit of Christmas to give—and to give toys. For the employees, it's an opportunity for them to do something they don't normally do."

"It's fun to watch the AeroFund employees do the shopping, and it's fun to watch them having fun shopping for our kids," says Brian Canali, an occupational therapist with the Hope Services Homestart program, which serves special needs infants and babies who are at-risk or who have developmental disabilities.

Canali says the 140 gifts for the babies and their families were wrapped and delivered in a special celebration on Dec. 16 at the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose.

Autumn Gutierrez, InnVision's public relations manager, estimates that 100 children benefited from AeroFund's shopping spree, receiving everything from Harry Potter books to the latest Superman action figures.

"This helps us provide the opportunity for kids who are living in shelters, low income or extremely low-income conditions to be the same as other kids," she says.

Parents were able to shop at InnVision on Dec. 17 for gifts in an activity called "Santa's Cupboard." Since InnVision received toys from other organizations in addition to AeroFund, it allowed parents to have control over what kind of toys their children received this Christmas.

Gutierrez says each gift was more than just a toy. It was a way of building self-esteem, dignity and helping families to eventually break out of homelessness.

Watching as the shopping carts were loaded with toys, Kristine Austin, director of communications with EMQ Children and Family Services, exclaims with excitement, "Wait until they start bringing the carts forward. It's chaos."

At the cash registers, Stephen put every expenditure on his credit cards, switching cards occasionally so the credit card companies wouldn't think he was committing fraud. He estimated they purchased somewhere between 600 and 900 toys.

"It's taken on a life of it's own," Leanne says of the experience. "The charities really appreciate it and ultimately the kids appreciate it. There's just something magic about kids and Christmas."

The Troy family has been lending its own magic to Christmas for the past 14 years.

In 1990, the Troys learned that the Toys for Tots program started by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve was short of gifts for needy children, so they decided to contribute. As AeroFund Financial grew, they expanded their gift-giving drive to include more organizations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For the first few years, Stephen says they'd buy the toys, put them in a barrel and drive off. They always assumed the toys reached disadvantaged children.

Then one year, Leanne said they thought it would be more rewarding to give some money to their employees and have them buy the toys. They started supplying local charities and shelters—which are not normally sponsored during December—with gifts.

"You feel like you're buying for an actual person," says Leanne.

Now, instead of just loading toys into a barrel, they're joined at Toys 'R' Us by representatives of the charities, who help with the shopping process. Toys are then loaded into trucks, vans and SUVs—all filled to capacity. Toys 'R' Us also provided AeroFund with a 10 percent discount on all purchases that morning, says store director Annie Zargarian.

"Toys 'R' Us has been very accommodating to us from the beginning," says Stephen. "They've gotten so excited about this."

Richard Olson, AeroFund's regional sales manager, recalls that some years children would write heart-wrenching handwritten gift requests.

"It was very sobering," he says. "They'd break your heart."

The 3-by-5 cards have simplified the process.

Olson also indicates that AeroFund offers a matching opportunity for local businesses and individuals to participate in the program. About 20 companies and individuals contributed this year, and for every $1 that was donated, AeroFund matched it with $2. For every one toy that was donated, Stephen says, they matched it with two toys.

LeeAnn Luongo, senior development associate with Boys & Girls Clubs, says they wouldn't be able to do the kind of community outreach they accomplish around the holidays without businesses like AeroFund, adding that about 100 toys from the drive were wrapped and delivered to families this week.

Dawn White, the director of Heritage Home, says that 35 children of mothers who frequent their shelter would be very surprised with the gifts from AeroFund, especially since most of the women don't come from homes or stable families that could afford these kinds of gifts.

Sue Sermone, EMQ's development manager, says a gift from AeroFund often becomes a child's most prized possession. About 100 EMQ children received gifts during the week of Dec. 20 from the drive, including basic necessities like clothing or fun items like Barbie dolls and scooters. EMQ provided gifts to approximately 1,000 children this Christmas and a "full holiday" for about 70 families.

Raymond LaBelle, AeroFund's senior vice president, was assigned to shop for EMQ teenagers in the 12- to 14-year-old age bracket. With tears in her eyes, Sermone explains that teenagers are often a group that can slip through the cracks and go unnoticed at Christmas time.

"A gift is probably more important to them than any other population of kids," says LaBelle, highlighting the radios, cameras and CD players the teens requested. "You just realize when you are reading the cards that they are trying to establish some kind of an identity for themselves."

Participating in the shopping spree was enough for even successful business executives like Raymond LaBelle and Stephen Troy to feel the warmth of the holiday spirit. But then, this was more than just a shopping spree—it was an extravaganza.

AeroFund Financial, Inc., selects different charities each year for its toy drive. This year's beneficiaries included:

* Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County, 1332 La Salle Ave., Seaside, which offers programs and services that promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling competence, usefulness, belonging and influence (visit www.bgcmc.org, email info@bgcmc.org or call 831.394.5171 or 831.757.4412).

* EMQ Children and Family Services, headquartered at 251 Llewellyn Ave., Campbell, works with children and their families to transform their lives and build emotional, social and familial well-being (visit www.emq.org or call 408.379.3796).

* City Team Ministries: Heritage Home, 435 N. Third St., San Jose, is a shelter for pregnant women of any age who are in crisis to stay during the duration of their pregnancy (call 408.294.1238).

* Hope Services, 1777 Agnew Road, Santa Clara, formerly known as Hope Rehabilitation Services, offers services for children, adults and seniors such as employment and job-training programs, developmental activities, professional counseling, infant services, senior services, supported and independent living services, and mobility training (visit www.hopeservices.org, email info@hopeservices.org or call 408.748.2850).

* InnVision the Way Home, 974 Willow St., San Jose, is a Silicon Valley provider of housing and services to homeless and at-risk families and individuals (visit www.innvision.org or call 408.292.4286).

For more information about the AeroFund Financial gift-giving program, visit www.aerofund.com.