Eleven-year-old Ja'Teruis Boyd wants only one thing for Christmas this year: for his family to be together and happy.

He "worries more than a grown person, so I try to not tell him anything," said his mother, Jackie Davis, who lost her job with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as a campus security associate in 2009 after holding the position for 12 years.

She now relies on unemployment payments each month to support her family, but that is scheduled to end this month, she says.

"I couldn't explain how we get by," Davis said. "It's just the good Lord."

Davis, 47, of Charlotte, is a single mother of three boys - including one whom she adopted and another whom she has full custody of. This Christmas, she is praying for a way to provide her children with gifts for the holiday, as she struggles to find a job.

Her sons are among 13,701 children in the area being helped by the Salvation Army's Christmas Bureau.

So far, 7,000 families have signed up to receive help from the volunteer-based program that provides gifts to low-income families.

For the past two years, Davis has been searching for a job.

To better her chances of being hired, she earned an associate's degree in accounting and graduated on the dean's list at DeVry University in October.

And to further her job experience, she secured an internship in July with ResCare, a program that works closely with the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services.

Davis began working closely with DSS about 13 years ago, when she decided to become a foster parent.

"I wanted to go through the foster-care program to see if I could help a child out," she said.

She didn't go in with the intention of adopting a child, but that all changed when she fostered, then gained full custody of, her great-nephew, Ja'Teruis in 2005.

"I wound up getting him and keeping him," she said. "Now he's all mine."

In 2007, DSS called again and asked if she would be willing to be a foster parent for a young mother, who was also a relative of Davis'.

Her answer was simple: "Sure," she said.

So the mother and her young child moved in.

Then one morning in 2010, "it got warm one day in May, and she decided to skip school and not come back," leaving behind then 5-year-old Ahjahya.

So in November 2010, Davis adopted her next son, Ahjahya Davis, who is now 6 years old.

"I didn't mind; I'd take him," she said, laughing.

Her oldest son, Jonquez, 23, also lives at home and is a student at ITT Technical Institute.

This year, funds in the Davis home are tight, with an income of about $800 each month, she says.

But her boys are still hoping Santa brings a Wii gaming console and video games.

"They are asking for so much, but I keep telling them money don't grow on trees," she said.

One lesson she tries to instill in her kids is to give back. As her children outgrow their clothes, she passes them along to someone else who may be able to use them.

"I try to tell my kids, there's always someone out there that's worse off than you," Davis said. "As long as you keep a smile on your face, everything will be fine."