The Christmas Gift

Few children ever realize the love, effort and sacrifices that parents put into making their lives full, fun and rewarding.

Our kids were fortunate to spend their early years supervised by a neighborhood of caring and watchful adults.  Since the houses were close together, the streets fairly quiet, and the parents all known to each other, the kids all banded together and ran in a pack, like puppies.  Like puppies they tumbled, ran, wrestled, and played first in one back yard and then another.  As parents you came to know the kids and the parenting skills of the other parents.  We started our family a little later than most of the others.  The mothers of these neighborhood children became a great source of information, encouragement and wisdom as I struggled to figure out the whole parenthood thing.

We were all young, just getting our lives started.  We had lots of fun but not much money.  This was particularly stressful at Christmas when our wants for our children often outpaced our pocketbooks.  We had enough for our needs but the extras of the holidays often took some creative planning. 

One of the mothers, who had been a true mentor for me, wanted to give her children something special that they would remember for years.  More than just a toy that would be worn out and forgotten in a short period, but a memory that they could take out and enjoy for years to come.  She thought and thought and decided that one of the most magical things to her was the magic of a live stage production.  Add Christmas to the equation and you have a stage production of  "A Christmas Carol". 

With a little looking she discovered an excellent production in a nearby city that had received wonderful reviews.  She determined that her children would be able to experience this.  The tickets were pricey but with a little creative budgeting she could squeeze out tickets for her 7, 10 and 13 year old children to attend.  The day in December arrived and dressed in their best clothes the children tumbled into the car for the one and a half hour drive to the theatre.  Upon arriving, the mom hustled them into the door and presented them each with a ticket.  She then gave them detailed instructions on how to find their seats and what to do after the show to find her. 

You see, she could manage the tickets for the children, but the budget wouldn't allow for her to have a ticket too.  So she had planned on sitting in the car outside and waiting for them until after the show was over.  The children nodded solemnly and went to find their seats.  An usher standing nearby overheard the whole thing.  He approached the young mother and told her that if she would wait until the show had started he would see if there would be a seat that she could use to watch the show.  Soon he was back and escorted her to the section where her children were seated, engrossed in the show. 

She recalled later that she never saw a bit of the show.  She spent the whole time watching the delight and fascination on her children's faces as they experienced the magic of the performance.

The children are grown now with families of their own, but they have never forgotten the wonderful present their mother gave them all those years ago.  This year, to tell her how much it meant to them, they all reunited, with grandchildren, to take their mother to see "A Christmas Carol" at the same theater.  This time she probably didn't watch it again....maybe because of tears in her eyes.