Seedling
know they’re going to recieve and have to reciprocate. This is a true story of just the
opposite. The trueness of love in the fullness of the season of Christmas, had gleamed its’
full light through a child’s heart, to one that needed a simple boost.
In 1983 I was newly divorced, empty of the togetherness of my former wife and child-
ren. Though there was numerous phonecalls and chats with them, knowing they weren’t
here for the Christmas season just made it all the more difficult to deal with. Also the loss
of a once loving partner in marriage dug its’ spurs deeper into my wounded heart. But
soon enough, changes were about to take place to help heal.
Having heard of a country wide organization called Parents Without Partners (PWP),
I had met some great people with all one goal in mind, healing, getting on in life, still
growing healthy with a divorced family, and making sure the children grow up healthy
and well. Through attending weekly meetings and becoming a member myself, I met and
started dating one young Lady. Having a family of her own to tend to, she decided to have
me meet them. Throughout the following weeks, we all got along well as a group and do-
ing some family activities together.
One afternoon, Jeanne’s daughters had asked me what my thoughts were about having
a fake christmas tree as opposed to the real McCoy. Ever since I was a child, my family
ALWAYS had a real tree. There’s plenty to be said about the sight, smell, and feel of a
real tree. To me personally, an artificial tree just DIDN’T cut it!. Then the big question
was asked by the youngest. “We want to know if you can help us get our tree. Are you
getting one too for your house?”
muster a glowing feeling of having my own. I agreed to help, but hid my feelings and a-
voided the question. It took awhile to explain to them why I wasn’t going to have one.
Little did I know, that this was totally unacceptable to the children. All of them had de-
cided a plan of action of their own. This plan was inspired by the youngest, and know-
ing that I had always had a real tree every year ‘til now, would not take no for an answer.
The week of Christmas had arrived, and everyone was in an exceptionally good
mood. All of the children were happy and bubbling with the Christmas spirit. Of all of
them, the youngest one had the biggest smile. I’d recieved a list from Jeanne and her ap-
proval to add to the joy, by giving all of them a small gift they would like and appreciate.
They even got one for my dog too. Although the deep feeling of missing my own and not
being able to be with them for atleast a week kept digging at me, I made good at keeping
a happy and festive appearance ever present. Everyone savored the Christmas dinner, the
deeply too, as each kept eyeing the gifts and wondering about their contents. After the
table was cleared, more egg nog passed and drank, all of us gathered around the tree for
the evening gift giving ceremony. To my surprise, a unanimous vote had been taken ear-
lier by the family, and I was elected to be Santa this night. So I played the role, enjoying
every minute of the warmth of this family’s Christmas spirit.
Everyone recieved a gift and all were quite pleased, treasuring their gift. There was
only one that didn’t get a gift, since he stated that he really didn’t want one. He did let
them know that the thought was very touching though, and thanked them for the thought.
It wasn’t his way of enjoying by recieving. He really enjoyed being able to give instead.
Quickly, all of the children ran into a bedroom and closed the door. Jeanne and I were
puzzled, looking at each other in wonder, but with no answer as to what they were up to.
Then one by one, they all came out and gathered around me except for the youngest. On
cue, the oldest child started the rest by singing “We wish you a Merry Christmas” . That’s
when the youngest of them came out, carrying a giftwrapped box, similar to that of con-
taining a large 2 liter booze bottle.
With a smile that could light the world, she came to me and said “Merry Christmas,
Ray!” Then she gave me the gift, and a big, loving hug from all of them. Stunned, I look-
ed at all of them and into Jeanne’s eyes a well. She shrugged her shoulders, just as sur-
prised as I was. A chorus of chants saying “Open it!” filled the air. For a moment, with a
few tears clouding my vision and a smile that just lit up my life, I looked back at the
youngest of 5, being all of 5 years old. Her excitement glowed, as I gently peeled back the
paper, exposing the top. She reminded me to keep the box upright, as I opened it. Seeing
the top of the enclosed gift, I had to reach down and pull the gift up from the bottom of
the box. Slowly, the gift appeared, and no one was more surprised than I, of what was in
my hand.
season bore down upon me, it was quickly dashed from my mind. I held in my hand, a 1
foot tall pine tree seedling, complete with a red and green bow and 5 small ornaments
dangling from the top of the pot that it was in. Speechless, I again looked back at all the
smiles on 5 children’s faces. Even Jeanne, though surprised, also had a glowing smile,
and said “Merry Christmas, to you!”
The children then told me of how they planned this surprise and the reason why. “We
made sure mom didn’t know either!” piped one, and another said “Everyone needs a tree
and you can keep this one alive and growing for lots of years to come too.” None the less,
there was no way to refuse such a small, but emencely great gift from the hearts of child-
ren that knew the meaning of Christmas and how to make someone happy. Even if that
someone didn’t want anything at all. I wasn’t alone anymore. The spirit of Christmas was
truly back and has grown much more every year since. All it took was one little angel
wanting to share all the love and happiness in her heart! God bless all of us, every one!
