SOUTH FORSYTH — Christmas came early to a woman who works at a south Forsyth restaurant when a family — strangers to her — left a $200 tip on a $4.27 milkshake.

The money was in addition to the $9.36 the couple and their teenage son left Thursday on a $42 meal at Red Robin in The Collection at Forsyth.

“[The father] told me before he left,” said Meredith Goss, who has been working at the chain for more than four years. “We had been talking about our kids and Christmas and just chatting. And he said he wanted to leave me something.”

He wanted to change the tip on the original receipt, she said, but the restaurant does not allow that. So he bought a milkshake in order to leave the extra $200.

The couple, who Goss said was in their 40s, told her to use half of the extra tip on bills and half on her 4-year-old daughter, Gracelyn.

“Of course, I’m going to spend it all on her,” Goss said. “That’s what’s important.”

The only condition: tell her daughter the extra gifts are from Jesus.

“She wants a Frozen princess castle. I probably wasn’t going to be able to get it because it’s over $100, and I didn’t want to spend it all in one place,” she said. “But that’s what she asked Santa for, and anyone who has asked her what she wants, that’s it. So now I can definitely get it for her.”

She said she had received a $70 tip on a $29 check during a previous holiday season, but this is “by far” the biggest one.

“Growing up Christian, and that my birthday is on Christmas Day, Christmas has always been my favorite holiday,” she said. “Keeping Christ in Christmas has always been a thing for me … It’s been important to me to remember that giving is the best part of the holiday. I love to give someone a gift and see their reaction.

“I’m not in a position to give someone money like that, but they were, and it was in the Lord’s name. And I’m sure it made him feel good knowing he could help me, and knowing I could use it.”