East Bay family wins coveted Disney Lego castle for Christmas from anonymous donor
This Christmas, the Thomas family's wish came true. It all started with an ad on Facebook Marketplace.
BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- This holiday season, a Disney castle is bringing so much joy to a Contra Costa family.
ABC7 News reporter Luz Pena met with the family Thursday after an anonymous donor made their Christmas wish a reality.
It's three days before Christmas and the Thomas family didn't have to wait to open their main present. The 4,000 Lego piece Disney Castle is already the center piece of their home.
"The mirror is so pretty! And you can actually get to the top and look at the windows," said 5-year-old, Skyler Thomas.
For years, they've been eyeing the coveted sold out almost $400 castle.
"We've never had that kind of free money to spend on something like that," said Danielle Thomas, a Disney fan.
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This Christmas their wish came true. It all started with this an ad on Facebook Marketplace.
"An ad that said free Disney castle!" said Danielle.
The person behind it wants to remain anonymous. Several months ago, he was going through a personal heartbreak and found peace and distraction building Legos.
"I didn't want a house full of Legos as fun as this is. So, they said why don't you put it up on Facebook Marketplace because I was trying to figure out how to gift it and who I could gift it to," said the anonymous Lego builder.
The only catch was that he wanted to hear people's stories. Within the first hour his post got over 1,000 replies.
"It was unbelievable. I was getting a response about every three seconds. It was about 800 responses in less than an hour," said the anonymous builder, "The story that I ultimately chose had to do with bringing a family together during the holidays."
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That family is the Thomas's.
"Her mouth dropped and I was like what? She said I won. And I was like, what? She said yeah! I won the castle!" said Jeff Thomas.
For the Thomas family, this castle represents more than Legos.
"We got engaged in front of the castle. We've announced two of the pregnancies with two of my daughters there. So, it's been a huge thing for us. The castle is a huge part of our memories and our family," said Danielle Thomas.
They even have matching tattoos with the coordinates of the castle.
"The second one is the Disneyland castle where I proposed," said Jeff Thomas.
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And that word 'castle' has a deeper meaning for them. For two years, they lived in an RV to save money to buy their first home. A couple of months ago, they bought their home. So money for Christmas gifts was tight.
"It's a mobile home and its small but it's perfect for us. After living in an RV it feels like a mansion," said Danielle Thomas.
Luz Pena: "Would you say that having a home is your human size castle?"
"Yes. 100%!," said Danielle Thomas.
"Unlike Legos, we have to come up with our own instructions. Yes," said Jeff Thomas.
The anonymous builder is planning to keep building castles to gift to other families this holiday season.
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