Shoppers in Derby, Vermont, are thankful for one mystery man who picked up the tab for their layaway items at a Walmart near the Canadian border.

The unidentified man paid off the entire stock of layaway items, WCAX reports.

"I don't even think I can find the words to say," said shopper Julie Gates. Gates was shopping last Thursday when an unknown man offered to pay for all of her items on layaway.

"This can't be; who can afford to just pay for everyone's layaway? And he said, 'Santa Claus can,'" said Gates.

"It was kind of like surreal when she said, 'Oh, no balance due,' or whatever, then it was really a reality," said Tammy Desautels, another shopper who had her things paid for. A third shopper, Sandra Cortez, told WCAX she thought this extraordinary act of generosity was a rumor.

Walmart did not say how much money the mystery "Santa Claus" spent or how many people were given free gifts, but some of the items cost several hundred dollars.

"There were people ahead of me that were eight-, nine-hundred-dollar layaways," Gates said. "I get goose bumps thinking that that is the true magic of Christmas, that's the Christmas spirit walking amongst us," she added.

The overwhelming feeling in Derby is thankfulness. "I want to thank him," said Cortez.