OMAHA, NE (WCMH) — “Somebody does something wrong, are you going to blame the whole family? You can’t do that.”

That’s what Jackie Gauff told KETV said about David Hadi’s family.

Jackie’s husband, Carl Gauff was killed last March when he was struck nearly head-on by a drunken Hadi.

After the crash, Hadi’s wife reached out to Jackie, and an unlikely and meaningful friendship formed.

“They’re innocent just like…they’re innocent just like we are,” said Jackie.

Now Hadi is in prison, and Jackie and her family are making sure Hadi’s wife and kids had presents under the tree, and food to eat. They say that’s how Carl would want to be remembered.

He would not have wanted anybody to turn their back on the family — it’s not their fault,” Sandra Alcaraz told KETV.

So it was with pizza and presents that these people, not Santa’s elves, showed true forgiveness this Christmas.