One Personalized Gift

We lived in a house that was less than 1000 square feet in size, our family of five plus. The plus including our two foster children, aged two and 5 months. My husband was a college student, and I was a domestic engineer. 😉 Finances were snug, but we weren’t lacking. We were happy.

We had our Christmas tree decorated, and one personalized gift per child, wrapped and ready – it was just two weeks before Christmas. 

As was our practice since having children, my husband and I did not purchase gifts for one another, but simply took pleasure in buying for our little ones. 

Hanging out in our living room near the tree one evening, (we always loved the magical ambience of the lights), we were surprised to hear the doorbell chime. Who could it be? Upon opening the door, two ladies greeted us asking if they could make a delivery here, and informing us that they knew no details save delivering the boxes.

Not expecting anything, and slightly confused, we watched as these two ladies carried box after box into our home, (both needing to carry the same box together), before informing us that the boxes and contents were indeed for our family. Said ladies bid us farewell and left, with us being rather stunned.

All of us extremely curious, my husband and I opened the boxes, each of them large, and four in number. Three of the boxes was specifically marked for our differing daughter’s ages and sizes. Inside each grand box were numerous presents, all individually gift wrapped. We were bowled over! 

And one box was for us, the two of us to share…the two of us who hadn’t had Christmas presents for a few years, simply because we decided we didn’t really need any and couldn’t really afford to anyway…

So, do you know what we did? We literally sat down right then, on the living room floor, surrounded by gifts, and prayed. We thanked God with tears in our eyes, for someone wanting to bless us this way! We hadn’t even opened any gifts yet. 

That night, in a family meeting, we decided that we would pray our thanks every evening, just before we could open one gift each. And for the first time ever, we celebrated the 12 days of Christmas. It was surreal!

So, yes, each evening, we were thrilled to open such personalized gifts, perfect fitting clothes, tailored likes for toys, and items that we just never imagined even dreaming of…

I can clearly still feel the rush of pleasure when I opened up the most beautifully handmade and appliquéd Christmas table cloth, gorgeous and rich in colour, with matching fabric napkins…items not necessary, but most pleasing to my heart.

Above and beyond what we even dreamed! God is like that!