Andre Johnson's 80-second Christmas shopping spree for kids once again a success

Published Dec. 2, 2014 11:10 a.m. ET

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Brett Smiley

Houston Texans veteran wide receiver Andre Johnson spent his day off Tuesday hosting his eighth annual Christmas toy shopping spree for a dozen Houston-area kids with the Harris County Department of Family Protective Services, and judging from the $16,266.26 tab, the kids once again did fine work racing through Toys R Us aisles.

Here's how the spree works: Each of the children (who have faced some adversity) get a bike, a gaming system and as many toys as they can jam into their shopping carts -- in 80 seconds.  

“It’s crazy,” Johnson told the Houston Chronicle about the origins of the event. “Me and my uncle were sitting in the house one day. And I was like, ‘I want to do something for Christmas.’ And he was just like, ‘Have you ever thought about having kids go through Toys R Us and get what they want?’ And I was just like, ‘Naw, I never really thought about that.'"

“He was like, ‘Give ‘em 80 seconds to run through the store and let ‘em just get what they want.’ And I was like, ‘That’s not enough time.’ And he was like, ‘They can grab a lot.’ So we did it the first year and when the kids came back, I was like, ‘Wow, I didn’t think they could grab that much stuff in that amount of time.’ So we just rolled with it from there and we just kept doing it every year. And we just decided to give them whatever game system they wanted because they keep that stuff locked up.”

Can you even fathom 80 seconds of reckless abandon in a Toys R Us as a child? I think I would have passed out from excitement.

Just a great gesture by "Andre Claus," who picked up the huge bill. And the best part, the kids had the presence of mind and good spirit to shop for their siblings, too, according to Texans TV host Drew Dougherty.

Here's some more photos:

Though not as much fun as a Toys R Us shopping spree, The Buzzer on Facebook is worth a like.  

[H/T Houston Chronicle]

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