The Gift of Giving

 Christmas… for the Christian it commemorates one of the two most important events.  For most of us it can be a time of gladness or sadness, maybe a combination of both.  It seems always to be a harried time with not enough time to get all the presents bought, wrapped and delivered… and all the food fixed and consumed.  

Essentially it is a time of gifts…from the first Christmas gift… the gift of Jesus to us from God to the littlest gift to a friend or your newspaper carrier.  Gifts dominate the season and our lives… for good and bad. 

Let me tell you my true story of gifts delivered and gifts received.  Many years ago, living in Elmira, NY I was a member of the Rotary Club.  The club helped in the packing of gifts given to the needy in our area.  The entire club would be involved… helping to put together a huge bag of gifts for each family.  Each kid would get two nice gifts plus a healthy helping of Christmas candy. We were only one group of many putting those big bags of gifts together. .  When these, literally thousands of bags were completed, of course they had to be delivered…and BEFORE 6 AM on Christmas morning! 

So early Christmas morning I got in my car along with my little daughter (she had to go… our son was too much into the expectations of Christmas to be distracted!) and we drove, in many cases through the snow, to the pick-up point and put as many of these bags as we could into the car.  Usually you could only get four or five in the car and off we would go in our own Santa mission.  In most cases the homes were quite humble and sometimes hard to find… but find we did!  In each case my little daughter had to carry the bundle up to the home.  Some homes would be dark and we would leave the bag on the porch.   Once in a while the family would be up and we would get the chance to see the delight in the kid’s eyes as they saw what was happening.  Once in a while the home would be dark… but we could see a little pair of eyes peering out from behind a curtain….  He was up, couldn’t sleep…waiting and hoping!  Once again we could play a real life Santa Claus. 

After the gifts were delivered in those cold Christmas mornings we headed home to our Christmas celebration with a very warm heart.  

Those kids and families got the gifts, but none so lasting as the one I received.  How may of those boys still remember that “John Havlicek” basketball after all these years?   But I had enjoyed a special time with my little daughter.  I can still see her struggling with the bundle (with a family of 5 kids that bag got pretty big and heavy) heading up those stairs to a second story apartment…with just a little help from dad. 

 We do not have that little girl now… but I have the fond memories.   After 25 years I can still feel in my heart the warmth of that ride home.