One evening in early December, David heard a knock on the door. 'Tis the season for neighbors dropping off goodies, so he wasn't too surprised to see a little gift box and card on the doorstep. No one was there, so he just picked it up an brought it inside. The box contained a sweet little one-piece nativity. The envelope was printed out on the computer. It said, "Merry Christmas! We love your family." Inside the envelope was a stack of several $20 bills. Like, a couple hundred dollars worth. David was shocked. He quickly found me - I was in another room with the girls - and showed me the gift we had just received. We just sat there for a while, looking at it! We didn't know what to think!
It's hard to describe the mixture of emotions that ran through me at that moment. I was embarrassed that our family is seen as needing help like that, and shocked at the generosity. I was humbled by the love and kindness of others and curious about who would do this for us. I felt little guilty, like we should turn around and give the money to someone else in greater need than us. But mostly I was overwhelmingly grateful. Grateful to have a little bit extra to spend on our family - to buy something or some things that I didn't think I'd be able to buy this year. Grateful to have the true spirit of Christmas slammed back into my heart at a time when I was starting to get overwhelmed by the "to-do's" of the season. And grateful for the undeserved, secret, powerful, Christlike love that someone showed to our family. We may never know who did it, but we love them! And hopefully, it helped us treat EVERYONE a little better during the holiday season.
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