The Greatest Gift

I was curious why complete strangers would do this for us. “They must be some very special people”, I thought, “maybe even angels”

I heard a commotion at the front door. My mom was squealing excitedly, she almost sounded like a kid. I peeked around the corner to see what was going on. There were a couple people at the door, but I didn’t know who they were. Mom said “thank you” over and over, then eventually they went on their way. She dragged an enormous decorated box into the living room and opened it up.

“Who was that?” I asked my mom. “I don’t know, they just came to drop us off some gifts and some food for Christmas dinner”. I was curious why complete strangers would do that for us. “They must be some very special people” I thought, “maybe even angels”.

My mom was a single mom with three kids. I was the middle one. We always had what we needed, but usually not much extra. We eagerly dug through the box and screeched at every find. I know us kids were tiny, but that box was so big we could crawl right in it to get the gifts. We stacked the presents under the tree and eagerly waited for Christmas morning.

I was nine years old then, exactly thirty Christmases ago. I remember my gift as clear as if it was yesterday. I got a craft set with fancy plastic rulers for drawing different shapes. I remember filling up the front of the fridge with artwork throughout the entire Christmas break. 

It wasn’t the wrapped presents left behind that were the greatest blessings though; the love from complete strangers lingered in our home the entire year and taught us how to love people we didn’t even know.

Thank you to all of those who give to Santas Anonymous; you truly can change a child’s life forever!

– Melanie