A Pre-Christmas Miracle

December 20, 2004

This is a true story that happened to my sister-in-law a few days

ago, which I titled " A Pre-Christmas Miracle. " She asked me to help

write her story because Salvation Army wanted to publish it on a

national level. After helping her write it up this morning, I was so

impressed that I had to pass it on to others. Please send it along to

everyone in your address book. I truly believe that everyone who

reads it will be blessed with a better understanding of the true

meaning of Christmas.

" God bless us everyone! "

M. Parish

Author, " Bible Action Stories for Tiny Tots "

Not just books... They're exciting learning adventures!

Bible Stories that have a BIG impact on little lives.

http://JonahBook.com

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less fortunate child.

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A Pre-Christmas Miracle

(by Dawn M. Bryner)

I had the most wonderfully humbling experience of my life last

Friday, and I thought it would be a shame not to share it with

everyone. It's one of those " True meaning of Christmas " stories you

always hear about, but this one was different because it happened to

me. You see, I try very hard to instill in my children that Christmas

is not about presents and getting everything they want, but instead

it is about Jesus' birth and being with family to rejoice. We

purposely make Christmas a more conservative occasion. As a matter of

fact, most of our family no longer exchanges gifts. We just get

together and enjoy the day for what it is. I am certainly not a

perfect parent, but if someone were to ask one of my kids why we

celebrate Christmas, they will tell you we are celebrating Jesus'

birthday. Ok, so here's where the " story " starts, since it's actually

about giving gifts. It's very simple, yet extremely profound.

Last Thursday, I got a call from Jacque K., Senior Advisor of the

Ambassadors of Hope (AOH). She was very upset. She called to get my

opinion on what we could do to help the Salvation Army get presents

for 35 children whose names were taken off of their Angel Tree but

had not had gifts returned for them. All of the gifts were due back

to the Salvation Army by Friday, December 10 to ensure they could be

distributed to the children on time for Christmas. By Thursday,

December 16th, G. from the Salvation Army was sure those gifts

would not be dropped off, so 35 children were not going to have any

gifts to open Christmas morning. Not knowing for sure how she would

get her hands on toys for these children, she called Jacque to see if

the AOH had any more gifts they could donate, as they had already

given approximately 75 toys. Jacque assured her the AOH would be glad

to help and then called me. The AOH did have some toys to donate but

not enough for the specific age groups and sexes that were needed.

So, AOH decided they would have to purchase the toys themselves with

money they were saving for a scholarship. It looked as though

everything was going to be OK after all.

I must say, I felt so outraged by what had happened – that people

would take the names off the Angel Tree and not return the gifts for

those poor children, that I wanted to help in any way I could. I

didn't want Christmas day to arrive and know that those 35 children

would not have presents to open. So, when I talked to Jacque again on

Friday morning, I happily volunteered to be the one to go to the

store and buy the toys. At that point they had a few more toys that

had been donated, but there were still 19 children left with no

presents at all. I needed to go to the store anyway, and thought this

would be a fun project, so I went to Jacque's to pick up the money

and the list. It was at that point I found out AOH only had $120.00

in their budget for these gifts. That's not very much, considering I

needed to buy a total of 38 gifts for 19 children, but I was up to

the challenge (or so I thought.)

This turned out to be a bigger challenge than I had anticipated. It

was downright next to impossible. I did manage to get presents for

all of the kids, but I was certain I had gone over the $120.00

budget, and held by breath as I headed for the checkout. I knew the

AOH had no more money to spare so I decided if I did in fact go over

budget I was going to just have to make up the difference with my own

money. I wasn't exactly thrilled about it as I had already donated a

worthy sum of toys and had given up a great deal of my time, but I

was more worried about the children. So I finally reached the

checkout line and as I waited I started going through my list,

matching toys to the each child to make sure everyone was covered.

All along I kept thinking to myself " How could someone do this to a

child? I mean, if you're going to take a name off the tree, you

should buy that child the recommended gifts, otherwise don't take the

name to begin with. It's not like people do not know what the names

are for or what they are being asked to do. " The more I stewed about

it, the angrier I became.

By the time I had waited in line and reached the checkout counter, I

was getting very upset. Here I thought this would be a lot of fun,

and it was turning out to be quite the opposite. I was so frustrated

about the people who had taken the names and not brought in the

presents. Plus, as I placed each item on the conveyor belt, I had the

mounting pressure that I might not have enough money to purchase all

of the items. All the while the toys were being rung up and bagged, I

was explaining to the checkout clerk at Wal-Mart why I was buying so

many toys and the situation surrounding it. She too was outraged by

what had happened. I told her that I was so upset about it, I was

going to write a letter to the editor and let others know what had

happened. She agreed that it was a good idea. Maybe it would make

people stop and think before doing the same thing next year.

She finally rang up the last toy, looked at the total and

announced, " It's $120.00. " When she said it I immediately stopped

talking in mid-conversation and stared at her in utter disbelief. I

looked at the screen, and sure enough, amazingly the total was

exactly $120.00. Tears started streaming down my cheeks and she asked

what was wrong. I hadn't yet told her at that point what my budget

amount was, so I explained to her that AOH had given me $120.00 to

purchase the toys. She looked at me, looked at the register again,

and then said " I think SOMEONE is helping you out here. "

It was undeniable. I most certainly had had some help with this. The

most humbling feeling I have ever felt swept over me at that moment,

and all of the anger drained away. My mom always tells me " God works

in mysterious ways, " but I had never felt it so close to home before.

I still wanted to write a letter to the editor, but this time with a

different angle. Christmas, for me this year, is going to be a little

more joyous – not despite those people who took the names, but

because of them.