December 16,2019

I have still not been able to access my google docs. Hopefully tomorrow.

THE MAN WHO ALMOST MISSED CHRISTMAS 

~ author unknown 

"I'm one of those lucky people who can look forward each year to two Christmases; one with my foster parents in Modesto, California and one with my birth mother in Sacramento, California. Last year, I spent Christmas Eve with my foster parents and early the next morning I left by bus to spend Christmas Day in Sacramento. I arrived back in Modesto at 11:30 p.m. Although, as usual, I'd celebrated Christmas twice, I felt empty and let-down. I couldn't understand it. On the two-mile taxi ride from the bus station, the driver was a woman. After a few blocks, I asked her how her Christmas had been.

"It gets very lonely not having any of my family home at Christmas," she told me. "It's just another day to me."

I didn't know what to say and I was glad when we pulled up in front of the house. I paid my fare and she drove off. Everyone was sleeping, so I went to bed too. But I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about the woman who had had no Christmas while I had had two Christmases. Then, an idea came to me. Maybe I could do something to keep her Christmas from being a total loss. I made a basket of the nice things the family had enjoyed at our Christmas festivities: fruits, homemade candies, cookies, and a piece of homemade pie. I called the cab company and asked them to send the woman back, identifying her by the number of the cab. When she arrived, I paid her the fare for coming out.

"Change your mind?" she asked, puzzled.

"No, ma'am," I told her. Then I handed her the basket and the card I'd enclosed, which said, "This may not make up for not having your family with you at Christmas but at least you will know that someone does care. Someone bigger than you and I."

As she read it, I saw tears glisten. After she left and I went back into the house. I realized something. The empty feeling that had bothered me came from just one thing: Receiving too much at Christmas time and not giving enough. Now that feeling was gone. So, that was my greatest Christmas ever. The Christmas that I learned to give.