I used to go to the Women's Shelter in town, about 2 days
before Christmas each year and interview the women and
their kids about what they wanted from Santa, I think
I told them it was for an article in the paper.

One year stands out to me still.
My agenda was to get each child 3 things, one, clothing,
two, something practical as they had nearly nothing,
and three, a fun toy.

I chatted with all the kids but one small boy was very
quiet and I could not get him to tell me what he wanted
from Santa.
He had..bruises, he seemed so little and sad and hopeless.

So I talked with his Mother and his sister and they indicated
he dreamed about a GameBoy and a certain game.
None of the Mothers or kids knew why I was asking, by the way.

Now, I was determined, though I knew the budget would have to
go out the window, to deliver on wishes.
I went to WalMart and talked with the manager and he agreed to
give me a 10% discount for all the things I had to buy for all
the kids, and the wrappings.

I had to find what the little boy wanted and I needed it to be
EXACTLY as he wanted. Turned out, they were sold out.
But, one of the workers, who was assigned to help me, said she
knew someone who had purchased that GameBoy and the game that
the little boy wanted, and she moved heaven and earth to get
it for him.
I was so grateful, I cannot tell you.

So I got everything wrapped, loaded the car and took all the
presents to the Shelter, on Christmas Eve. The kids were all
in bed, unaware,
There was a small tree the Shelter ladies had put together,
and there were stockings with oranges and things in them for
the kids, so they would have something Christmas morning.

When they saw all the gifts, with 3 presents for every person
in the Shelter, there were many misty eyes I can tell you.
The ladies placed them all under the tree and it looked amazing.
It was a sight :-)

So, a few days later the Shelter ladies called me to please
come by.
And they told me about Christmas morning at the Shelter.

The children had come downstairs, the word spread, Santa had
found them all.
They didn't rush the tree, or look for their names, they all
just stared at it, barely hoping.
The Shelter ladies then started passing out the presents,
until each child had a wee pile.

They went round the room, each one opening just one gift,
round and round, they all seemed so happy for the others.
The last gift opened was by the little boy (the Shelter
ladies had worked out that his gift was special, so they
held it back, but he had 3 because I had gotten him
a 100 pack of batteries to go with his GameBoy.)

He opened the batteries, just as he was passed the
final gift.
He looked a little puzzled, all the other kids were
hushed with anticipation, he was a favorite.

He slowly opened the GameBoy, and they told me he looked
shocked, disbelieving, rechecked the name on the gift,
looked at his Mom, who was crying, and tried to take it in.
The other kids gasped and gathered round him to see it closer.

And do you know what this sad little boy did?
They told me he let every single one of those children play
with his GameBoy, before he did. One by one. Each had a turn,
then handed it reverently to the next.

I would have loved to have met the man that little boy became
later in life.
He was so special.
Some moments stay with you forever.

When my late husband died we had a year so compounded with various problems the list would have been hard to believe. Numb I called my old neighbor and Army sister/friend the news and barely spoke the words before she was getting off the phone and going to school, picked up her three young kids, took them to friends, went to the battallion to tell her husband she would be back when she got back eleven days before Christmas, and took off to drive ten hours to be with my son and me.

While I was pretty much in shell shock she got everyone in from the family, necessary things done, even went to our new family doctor, chaplin, employer, and landlord to make sure when she left she had everyone on the same page and I got the help I needed to get through the crisis even though we were no longer military and most in our old neighborhood would have never known she made such a sacrifice.

A real kindness since at that time I had had minimal contact with my biological family and barely knew our way around the new city/neighborhood we had moved to and I knew maybe three or four people more than to put a name to them struggleing to live outside of the military culture which seemed like a foreign world.

So I think my Christmas Angel will always will named Connie T..

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