A seven-year-old is preparing to open the most recent of 14 years' worth of Christmas gifts pre-bought by her elderly neighbor before he died of cancer.

Cadi Williams is looking forward to opening her sixth mystery present from Ken Watson, who was 87 when he passed away five years ago.

After the funeral, Ken's family was surprised to find a sack full of 14 wrapped presents for the wee girl who was then only two. Cadi's parents were "knocked off their feet" by his thoughtfulness, which he had kept secret from everyone.

"It was magical and heart-warming," said her father Owen Williams. "It was the feeling that gets you in the throat—when your brain is processing quicker than your heart can take it."

Thus began the tradition of Cadi opening her ‘Ken gift' every Christmas Eve, when the family brings it down from the attic—and so far, she's unwrapped toys, books and games.

"We tell Cadi about how, on a dark night in December, her neighbor passed away. She doesn't really remember him, but you can always keep someone's memory alive by telling stories.

"There's something quite powerful about a kindly neighbor who put away these gifts.

"What's sweet is seeing my daughter's development as well. She's gone from being a toddler when this started and now she's seven. It's like a record of her growing up."

The family actually couldn't wait until Christmas to open the first present from Ken in 2018, so they immediately unwrapped it—a book called ‘Christmas Eve at the Mellops', by Tomi Ungerer.

Cadi unwrapped a cuddly goat on Christmas the same year, and in 2019 she received a little wooden train that carried the letters of her name.

In 2020 she opened a giant Crayola coloring book and the following year she got a book, ‘Ghostly Beasts' by Joan Aiken.

Last Christmas she received the three-book series of ‘What Katy Did' by Susan Coolidge.

Owen, who works in social media, uses #BeMoreKen in his annual Twitter post revealing Cadi's gift, encouraging others to be kind and to get to know their neighbors. At the time of this posting, they had just brought the present down.

"Ken was just one of those people that others adored," says Owen. "He was like a Father Christmas figure."

He didn't have grandchildren and missed his wife who had passed away ten years prior to the Williams family moving next door.

For her first birthday, Ken gifted Cadi a huge cuddly Lion called Elvis—and he went on to buy the same plush giant for every child on the street—costing $20 a pop in Wales.

That fact became known when Owen went into a local toy shop and mentioned to the owner that his neighbor had bought Cadi one of the lions for her birthday.

She replied, "Was it Ken?"

He had come into the shop after seeing the lion in the window and decided to buy them for all the children in the street.

An accomplished man, Ken often surprised Owen with tales of his past adventures—just another reason the 45-year-old Welsh dad advises others to "take the time to get to know your neighbors".

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