This is not going to have anything to do with cars,
it is going to have to do with CHRISTMAS.
I am one of those people to whom Christmas REALLY means something.
Every Christmas I say an extra prayer for the Christmas's I
have had and there have been many, so good some bad. I think
back to my most memorable Christmas when I was young: My Father
had been injured and was out of work. Mother tried to earn what
she could but it wasn't much. I can't even remember how old
I was but Mother had been preparing my Sister and myself for
the fact that there was not going to be much under the Christmas
tree. As a matter of fact, there would not be much on the table
either. Then one day there was a knock on the door and there
stood a Fireman and some people from The Salvation Army carrying
boxes of stuff. There were toys for us kids AND food for a Christmas
dinner. I don't remember much except that one of the toys was
a tin fire truck that someone had repainted and it had silver
lights and grill. I kept that toy for years and it always reminded
me that someone else had cared about US on that Christmas day.
(Just as a note: We lived where there was no electricity and
our Christmas tree had candles on it. Every night we would sit
around the tree and Mom would lit the candles for a few minutes
only.) Since that Christmas I have always tried to do what I
can to help a few other people and things like toy runs and
the Salvation Army always get as much as I can give.
Then there was the first Christmas I had to spend by myself
without my children, after a very bitter divorce. A friend dropped
over one night and said some things that meant a lot to me.
He said that even though I didn't even know where my children
were, I knew WHO they were and no matter what I would always
be their Dad. Well, a few Christmas's later the children lived
with me BY CHOICE and we had many Great Christmas's.
Then there was the worst Christmas of my life. My Wife had
gone into a small rural hospital, just a couple of days before
Christmas, with severe stomach cramps. She had been having intestinal
problems for years and had been operated on before. However,
the local Doctor believed that the problem was only a stuck
piece of Chinese food and that it would pass. It took many frantic
phone calls before we could contract her specialist and by that
time the bowel had perforated and Gangrene was starting. When
the hospital FINALLY agreed to transfer her, it was just about
too later. The people in the Air Ambulance didn't think she
would survive the trip. When she arrived in Calgary, her Surgeon
had returned from a Christmas holiday in order to save her life
and he did. (Yes, I could have sued but I didn't.) Every Christmas
there is a special ornament on our Christmas tree for that Surgeon.
Funny thing was, the Doctor that had nearly caused her death,
called me at home the day after her operation and wanted me
to go open the shop so that I could fix a problem on his truck.
He never did ask how she was doing. (NO, I didn't do it.)
Yes, I believe in the religious part of Christmas but I think
too many people have forgotten what Christmas was meant to be.
How many people have YOU helped this Christmas?
