Several years ago I was able to go on a trip with a group of youths who were doing a progressional dinner a weekend before Christmas. However, before the dinner, we took a trip to a local senior home as well as visited an elderly woman all of 98 years old. This woman's name was Edna and what I saw in her eyes that evening was something that made that Christmas all the more precious.
We take for granted everyday that with our young ages, we feel like we're going to be around forever and that in some small way we're invincible. With age comes reason, and with old age comes loneliness. In a day and age where electronic gifts, gadgets, and the newest cars and toys litter the holiday landscape, we forget about the meaning of coming together and reacquainting or making each other smile, just for the sake of doing so. Even though she was cold, while listening to us sing, and that she had a racking cough that was louder at times than our singing, she smiled. She smiled for the reasons of our singing and that someone actually wanted to come visit her and make her smile.
The kids in the group were singing with gusto, and lets be honest here. The guys in the group were hungry and wanted to move on so that they could get to dinner, and the girls in the group were at times disinterested but were the most enthusiastic. After 4 or 5 songs it was time to move on, but at the end Edna grabbed my arm and smiled with her eyes at me and said "thank you so much" with her voice.
I'm not really sure what I got for Christmas that year, but I do remember this story. Isn't that pretty powerful in itself? I'm hoping that the kids who sang that night grow up and remember the story as I do myself. In a tiny apartment, on a late holiday night, a group of people, mostly kids, sang from Christmas sheet music to deliver a message of togetherness and warmth.
The next time you fret over how much something costs, or that you can't afford something that your child really wants, pause for a moment and remember this story. There's no need to worry during the Christmas season when you take the meaning of Christmas to heart!
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