Many people go shopping for gifts and toys this time of year. On Tuesday afternoon at a Kmart in Longmont, a middle-aged woman and her son went shopping for joy.

They handed over $1,000 - in $100 bills - to a store manager and said they wanted to anonymously buy presents for select customers as they checked out.

The pair went along the aisle - quietly pointing out the people whom they wanted to benefit with an act of random generosity.

Then they sat down on a bench near the door for about 90 minutes and watched those people react when told at the checkout counter that all the items in their shopping cart had been paid for by a mysterious benefactor.

"It was great," said Linda Linville, an assistant store manger. "They (the customers) were astonished. You could tell they were just so grateful."

Linville said the pair wanted to spread some Christmas cheer, but were emphatic about remaining anonymous.

There did not seem to be any pattern to whom the woman picked, Linville said. One was an elderly woman with an oxygen tank, another was a man shopping with his young son.

All they had in common, it seems, was their surprise when Linville informed them that someone had paid for all their purchases.

"I had one girl with a friend or relative," Linville said. "She was getting her money out and I told her, 'Put your money away. I have an anonymous customer who wants to pay for your purchases.'

"She looked at her friend and said, 'I know you did this. She did this, didn't she?' "

Linville replied, "No ma'am, she didn't."

Penny Zorna, another assistant store manager, was helping with a price check when the elderly woman on oxygen pulled up.

The woman had a full cart of goods, but set aside a watch, thinking she did not have enough money. Zorna said Linville told her to put the watch in the bag anyway.

Zorna said another woman had been shopping for an underprivileged family when she discovered her act of charity would be matched 100 percent.

Several people came back into the store wanting to thank their benefactors, but Linville said she protected the mother and son's anonymity. She did agree to forward several gifts and cards of thanks to the pair.

"It amazing. It's wonderful," Linville said. "It was like the movie, Pay It Forward," where actor Kevin Spacey plays a character who tries to inspire random acts of kindness.

"Maybe that's what she was hoping, that somebody else would do this," Linville said.