Beautiful Holiday Story

[Guest guest]

Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow. Bobby

didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any. The

thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job of

keeping out the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour already.

And, try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother's

Christmas gift. He shook his head as he thought, " This is useless, even if I do

come

up with an idea, I don't have any money to spend. "

>

Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the family of five

had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't care, or try, there

just never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but the

small wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far.

What the family lacked in money and material things, they more than made

up for in love and family unity. Bobby had two older and one younger sister,

who ran the house hold in their mother's absence. All three of his sisters had

already made beautiful gifts for their mother. Somehow it just wasn't

fair.

Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started to walk

down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't easy being six

without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to. Bobby walked

from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window. Everything seemed

so beautiful and so out of reach.

It was starting to get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to walk home

when suddenly his eyes caught the glimmer of the setting sun's rays reflecting

off of something along the curb. He reached down and discovered a shiny dime.

Never before has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby felt at that moment.

As he held his new found treasure, a warmth spread throughout his entire

body and he walked into the first store he saw. His excitement quickly

turned cold when the salesperson told him that he couldn't buy anything with

only

a dime. He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line. When the shop

owner asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he

could buy one flower for his mother's Christmas gift. The shop owner

looked at Bobby and his ten cent offering.

Then he put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to him, " You just wait

here and I'll see what I can do for you. " As Bobby waited he looked at

the beautiful flowers and even though he was a boy, he could see why mothers

and girls liked flowers.

The sound of the door closing as the last customer left, jolted Bobby

back to reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid.

Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter. There, before

Bobby's eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses, with leaves of green and

tiny white flowers all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby's heart sank

as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into a long white box.

" That will be ten cents young man. " The shop owner said reaching out his hand

for the dime.

Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime. Could this be

true? No one else would give him a thing for his dime!

Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, " I just happened to

have some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like them? "

This time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed the long box

into his hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the owner was

holding, Bobby heard the shop keeper say, " Merry Christmas, son. "

As the shopkeeper returned inside, the shop keeper's wife walked out.

" Who were you talking to back there and where are the roses you were fixing? "

Staring out the window, and blinking the tears from his own eyes, he

replied, " A strange thing happened to me this morning. While I was setting

up things to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me to set aside

a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at the time

whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway. Then just a

few minutes ago, a little boy came into the shop and wanted to buy a flower

for his mother with one small dime. " When I looked at him, I saw myself, many

years ago. I too, was a poor boy with nothing to buy my mother a Christmas

gift. A bearded man, whom I never knew, stopped me on the street and told

me that he wanted to give me ten dollars.

" When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was, and I put

together a dozen of my very best roses. " The shop owner and his wife

hugged each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the bitter cold air,

they

somehow didn't feel cold at all.

May this story instill the spirit of Christmas in you enough to pass this

act along. Have a Joyous and Peace-filled season.

Kathleen in Sonoma