Six-year-old Teddy wants Legos and a dinosaur. Coralie, 4, has a kitten and, of course, Barbies on her wish list. Three-year-old Joan has asked for a jack-in-the-box.

If Santa delivers those presents under the Tiefels' Christmas tree this year, they'll have their mother, Joy, to thank and a timeless lesson to learn from her.

Joy Tiefel, broke and scrambling to make ends meet along with her husband, Ted, has found a way to give Teddy, Coralie and Joan a Christmas worth something, and it doesn't include taking handouts. Just an oven and a drive to provide.

Joy Tiefel, 32, began baking cookies and muffins by the dozens, then hitting city streets with them, selling the goods for a quarter apiece to anyone that would approach her sandwich board. The goal: raise $300 by Christmas Eve so each of her children could find $100 worth of presents Christmas morning.

As they say, where there's a will, there's a way.

“We keep pretty optimistic,” said Tiefel, “but we got to the point where we really weren't quite sure how the extra was going to happen. What am I going to do to give the kids a Christmas? We wanted to do something, not sit and wait for something to happen. So I thought, well, I can bake.”

There was a point this year where things got so financially bad for the Tiefels that Joy and Ted, 29, had to turn to a local food bank to feed their three kids. Humiliated, Joy Tiefel said she vowed to do what it took to never return.

Then year's end drew closer, and the holidays with it, and Tiefel became nervous as part-time job after part-time job declined to offer her even an interview. To make matter's worse, Tiefel's husband, Ted, was dropped to part-time at his job with Ivy Tech Community College.

The Tiefels began to wonder how they'd provide a suitable Christmas for their young children. When Joy Tiefel turned to her niche, using her oven to bring in the coins, Ted mocked her a bit.

He's quiet now.

Three hundred dollars one quarter at a time sounds like a tall order, meaning Tiefel, who has tallied $200 so far minus $80 put back into ingredients, must be one of two things: an amazing saleswoman or an amazing baker.

Or maybe she's just driven by her kids.

“I want my kids to see I'm trying to earn money, I'm not asking for it,” said Tiefel. “Right now, there are so many families that are needy. I don't want to be put on the list when somebody else actually can't do something for their family and needs that charity. I figure I can at least do something.”

Sure, Tiefel's walking bake sale has been met with resistance. She got booted off the IPFW campus her second day out, and told by a Fort Wayne Police officer to be sure not to solicit her baked goods on city streets.

She doesn't, simply advertising with a poster board and letting the patrons approach her.

And if she's asked to leave a location, well, that's the beauty of a walking bake sale – she moves on to the next location.

Those locations include, typically, the downtown Citilink bus stop at Superior and Clinton streets 2-5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then going door-to-door in and around her neighborhood on Saturdays.

On Black Friday, Tiefel says she'll be up and at ‘em with the early birds, selling to the masses at the Apple Glen Walmart and Best Buy stores well before dawn. Tiefel hopes the crazed shoppers will find a hot muffin or cookie appealing, and open their wallets accordingly.

“I won't be able to make the sales this weekend, but I wouldn't be surprised if, by Black Friday, I didn't reach my goal because I'm actually finding people a lot more receptive than I ever imagined,” Tiefel said. “The thing is, you don't realize how quickly quarters add up. But they really, really do.”

The Tiefels have been hit hard by the economy this year, with job losses and cutbacks forcing the young family to sell off much of their belongings simply to stay afloat. Gone are Joy's and Ted's college books, their camera and as much as they could stand to lose.

Amazingly, the Tiefels were able to sustain their optimism and make a bad situation doable.

“It's been a tough year, but we're trying to stay optimistic,” said Joy Tiefel. “There's always something you can do. If it doesn't work, you've got to try something else.”

Tiefel said her children have caught on to the way she's providing for her family. Teddy will often tag along on the door-to-door sales, and the girls will help occasionally with the baking.

Come Christmas morning, that work will no doubt pay off for the whole family.

“I'm not trying to spread hope, I'm just trying to get my kids Christmas gifts,” said Tiefel. “People ask if I'm embarrassed doing it, and I say, no, not really. You've got to do something.”