The Christmas Treasure

Going home for Christmas was a tradition my children and I honored annually.  We lived away from the family and determined that we would live independently without assistance.  Oh we had blessings all along the way from those friends who were close to us but we were our own family until Christmas came.  We always went home to see my Mama and Daddy and their other grandparents, as well as all of the cousins, my siblings, and friends we had stayed close to even though we were not living there.  The Christmas I will share with you is the exception to all of our rules.  We did not see ourselves as needy or poverty ridden.  We lived well and my job afforded us a beautiful place to live with conveniences and amenities that we thoroughly enjoyed.  This year I had managed to overcome an auto accident, thankfully it was a financial strain and not physical, and I still had $40.00 to spend for Christmas.

The dreaded moment was to tell everyone we would not be able to go home.  The grandparents were the saddest, so at the very last moment they made their own arrangements.  My Mom and Dad decided to come to see us, leaving a very large family to have Christmas without them.  Needless to say, we did not tell them why we could not come, just that we could not.  The other grandparents mailed the children the gifts they had for them, knowing they would arrive after Christmas.

For many families this would have been the saddest and most depressing Christmas ever, but not for us.  We were used to coping and staying together through all of our troubles. Tony was probably the saddest because it was his opportunity to duck hunt, and go the woods, and be one of the guys.  He truly loved the dogs and duck hunting. Leigh was a lot like my Mama, she just took it on the chin and smiled.  We managed to find a Christmas tree and we decorated it joyously, as always.

I really was in a dilemma.  What could I buy for their Christmas gifts?  There would only be one.  They were teens in high school and everything was expensive.  I went to the mall and sat in the center of the mall and tried to think of something really wonderful but it did not happen.  I went back home still hoping to think of something.  Tony announced that he needed new jeans and that was a relief to know what he needed.

I was running out of time so I went to the mall and I walked in and out of the stores.  Alllllll of the stores. Some two or three times.  I walked into a card shop and there were books on display, so a break from shopping was in order by now and I could not resist the wonderfulness of checking out books.  It was there on a rack, I found my daughters most treasured Christmas gift.  A book. The book was written in the forties.  “Leaves of Gold”.  As I read through the pages I realized that there were many things in this book that I wanted to share with my daughter.  We just never know what may happen or why. 

She graduated from high school, completed her Bachelor’s at a private Christian college and then the wall of Russian came down.  She was sure of her mission and off she went to Russia.  The book went with her everywhere she decided to be a part of the world.  I am sharing this story because a couple of days ago, she said to me, “Mother I still have that book and I treasure it.”  She has two teens of her own now. Very often we think inside of our little world and forget about the exterior or the people living out there.  She was a part of other people’s lives and she made a great difference for them.  She still does, because she is still a teacher only now, in America, and in a public school.  Those things I wanted her to know but I just never had found a way to verbalize them all, came from a book.  Imagine that. Imagine how much she shared from that book and is still sharing without giving it much thought.  The people out there, are as stressed and pressured as we are and that is okay because today’s world gives us very little time, so Christmas is even more important.  We can pause and look around us and be somebody’s angel today. After all, you never know how far $20.00 can go.

God Bless you and Merry Christmas.  I hope to be here again tomorrow, but in the event that I am not, please know that I wish you the most wonderful Christmas.