for the season! One of my goals as being a parent is to show you two what Christmas is all about! It is not about the presents, parties, Santa. All of these things are fun and nice but the real reason is Jesus! One of the first things we got out was our nativity set Nonni got us last year for Christmas. We went through who everyone was and put it out for display...
A few hours later I saw you (Syd) talking to Jesus. So I sat back and watched. You were SO concerned he was not warm enough in his little blanket in his manger so you went and got a towel picked him up and wrapped him tight and said "there now you will be warm". AWW too precious! Then you moved everyone else to the side and said "here is your mommy Mary and daddy Joseph"
One thing Nonni taught Mommy was about giving to those around us. So it is my goal to teach you the act of giving. This year we went to a really fun cookie exchange. We had many plates of cookies to bring home. On our way home mommy decided to take the cookies to a nursing home close to our house. It was not an ordinary nursing home. It was in a house with only 6 older ladies. We walked up to the front door and Syd you said "do you know these people" I said no, but I bet they would love to see you kids and get some nice treats. Wow, little did we know how thrilled they would be to see us. They never got random visitors so we walked around and met each of the ladies and you two brought a sparkle to their eye! The caregiver was hesitant to bring us over to one of the ladies saying she was not all that pleasant but we went anyway. Much to our amazement she looked at you two and made the biggest smile and had a tear drop from her eye. The caregiver said this was the second time she had ever seen her smile! It just goes to show how a random small act of kindness can really make someone's day!
The second plate of cookies went to a nice man mommy and daddy met 3 years ago on Christmas Eve. There was a huge snowstorm in Seattle that year and mommy was pregnant with Dane. We saw an older man on the side of the road. I had a bad feeling he should not be walking in that horrible weather so we pulled over. He said his car had broken down and he was trying to walk home. We insisted that he get in the car and we would take him home. As I was helping him out of the car, I asked him where he was headed for Christmas Eve. He said he was on his way to see his wife in the hospital but it didn't look like he would make it. I assured him he would not miss Christmas with his wife and that we would get him there no matter how long it took with the snow. The entire ride all he could do was thank us and he said in the 80 some years he had been living he had never had a random stranger do something like that especially on Christmas Eve. WOW I thought that is crazy it was the least we could do! It took us quite a long time to get there but we made it. Several days later I got a call from his daughter in California she was so grateful for what mommy and daddy had done and then she broke down in tears. She said my mom died and because of you my mom and dad got to spend one last Christmas together. Let's just say that year God blessed us with the gift of meeting this nice man named Bud. We realized the gift we received in our hearts was much bigger than any tangible gift we could buy at a store. Every year we receive a big gift from Bud and his daughter delivered to our door at Christmas with a reminder in our hearts of the true meaning of Christmas! This year mommy decided we would pay Bud a visit with one of the plates of cookies. He was shocked to see us at his doorstep but it meant the world to him. His daughter called me the following day and said how much that meant to the both of them. It's amazing what a plate full of cookies can do and a couple minutes out of your day.
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1 comment:
My eyes are FULL of tears. Your little family is amazing, and those kids are lucky to have such great parents teaching them wonderful lessons!! Awesome stories.
*p.s. I completely forgot until just now that you had emailed me about formatting the pics in the new draft blogger. I have NO idea how to do it either, but it can be done! My friend Jodi will hopefully let me know the secret and I'll pass it on!! Sorry penpal!! ;)
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