WEST PARIS — The miracle began on May 21.

Attentive neighbors Warren and Fern Fellows saved the lives of Debra and Dan Trowbridge when they noticed their neighbors’ house was on fire and woke them from a sound sleep.

“The house was a complete loss, but most of all were the lost memories that went up in smoke,” Debra Trowbridge said.

“All of the Christmas ornaments we had collected over the years were among those memories,” she said. “Ornaments the children and grandchildren had made were among the lost, as well as the family portraits. The Christmas village that Dan and his mother had made together was gone and the Christmas tree topper. All of the Christmas memories were gone.”

This Christmas, the Trowbridges are celebrating in their new home. It didn’t take long for contractors to come to the rescue.

“We tried to hire as much local as we could,” Debra said. Hadley Excavation took away all the debris. Tyler Knightly from South Paris Old School concrete poured the foundation, Dan Connell did the plumbing and heating, and L.J. Belanger did the brickwork. Taylor Made Homes of Wilton built the house.

Asked what she wanted for Christmas, Debra said, “I want a family photo and I want to start collecting ornaments again.”

Daughter Jessica Mason of Casco took up the challenge to see what could be done to get some meaningful Christmas ornaments to brighten up her mother’s life.

Jessica enlisted the help of her sister, Jennifer Thorpe, and Debra’s mom, Carolyn Carszcz, of Florida to start a secret ornament campaign. They wrote e-mails, letters and made phone calls all across the country to relatives and friends, telling them about the fire and asking for an ornament donation.

Connell the plumber invited Dan and Debra over to his farm to choose a tree.

“He literally took us over hill and dale to find the perfect tree,” Debra said.

On Sunday, the family was invited over for lunch and to decorate the Christmas tree with the few ornaments Debra and Dan had purchased.

“I had resigned myself to getting just a few ornaments each year,” Debra said.

She said she heard her grandchildren come into the house calling, “Babcia,” which is polish for grandmom. When she went to greet them, everyone seemed to be overly excited.

“I just thought they were excited about getting the tree in the house,” Debra said.

Her daughters told her and Dan to go downstairs for a while.

“When we came upstairs, they all said, ‘Surprise.’ There was my mom, who had come up from Florida and my brother and his wife from Rhode Island. Also, our best friends, Carol and Larry Lessard.” The moment was filled with tears and hugs, Debra said.

“I just thought it was the greatest thing to have all my family together and didn’t know there was another surprise in store for me,” Debra said.

After dinner that night, the guys got the tree inside and set up. “Then I noticed a large blue box on the table,” she said. “When I read the letter that was on top of the box, I just burst into tears.”

On top of the box was the letter Jessica had sent out requesting ornaments. Inside the box were about 50 ornaments from all over the country.

One ornament was from her grandmother; she also got hand-painted ones, kayaking ornaments that represent one of the family’s sports, firemen and one with tinsel made from cylinder bottles from Mount Everest.

A family photo was taken with the ornaments adorning the tree.

“This is God’s blessings for a new beginning,” Dan Trowbridge said. “Christmas isn’t about presents; it’s about family.”