Sherry reminded me of holiday's past and some of their joys and sorrows. The one I remember the best was when my youngest son was two and we lived near the border in South Texas. My husband had died of a heart attack, leaving me with a large mortgage, no money, and five children. Christmas was bleak. I managed to buy one gift for each child, small things like coloring books, or socks, or a record. Then two weeks before Christmas, at basketball practice, (I was the girl's bb coach), a ball inadvertently hit me in the face and broke my glasses. I am blind without them.

Two days later I got in to see the eye doctor, a young man who had only been in practice a few months, and he checked my eyes, prescribing new glasses. I cried right there in his chair. I did not have the money for glasses, and my own were totaled. He was so kind, reassuring me that if I talked to the girl up front they would arrange payments. He and I talked for about twenty minutes, and I poured out my heart and my problems, as he listened. Ten days later my glasses were ready and I went to pick them up. Just as promised they arranged for me to pay only a little at a time.

Christmas eve was sad at our house. A tiny tree left over from my h.s. hallway, no huge gifts under the tree, and no turkey getting ready for the oven in the morning. I read "The Night Before Christmas" to the kids and everyone went to bed. I sat downstairs reading a bit, feeling sorry for myself, and there was a tap on the front door. Standing on the porch was my eye doctor, with a huge bag filled with gifts for my children. It was Christmas! We put them all around the tree and he told me he too was from a big family, and they were grown now, and lived out of town. He wanted to shop for kids again and we turned up at just the right time!

He brought food to cook, and returned the next day to Christmas dinner. We have remained friends ever since. He still lives in Texas, and my youngest son still considers him the Dad he never had. "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever." - Psalms

Sunshine