The Small White Envelope

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

[SIZE=10pt]i got this e-mail a couple of years ago and i saved it, i started doing this for my family and trying to pass the word, i think it's a great idea so for anyone who doesn't know what to get someone...[/SIZE]

The Small White Envelope

[SIZE=10pt]It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years or so.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas--oh, not the true[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it--overspending...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma---the gifts given in[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Mike.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]The inspiration came in an unusual way.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]wrestler's ears.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]this could take the heart right out of them."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Mike loved kids - all kids - and he knew them, having coached little[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]followed the tradition--one year sending a group of mentally handicapped[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]and on and on.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]in the morning, it was joined by three more.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]expand even further with our grandchildren standing to take down the[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]envelope.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be with us. May we[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Christmas spirit this year and always.[/SIZE]

 

[Farmhand]

Neat.

 

[Bassett]

Well now, isn't that enough to bring tears to your eyes? What a wonderful thing to do.

 

[RedWagon]

There is an article in the current issue of Woman's Day magazine about a family who began doing a white envelope every year after the wife received the same email. Very inspiring!

 

[Basketmiss]

Well Susan, that is just the sweetest thing! Your making me teary too!! You have a wonderful Heart!

Bless you for such unselfish gifts to others, we need more of that around the world...

Merry Christmas...

Christ is the Reason!!

 

[twister]

That sure brought tears to my eyes, what a wonderful tradition.

Yvonne

 

[CyndiM]

I love that story. It's an easy thing to do.

 

[Miniv]

That's really very special. Thank you for sharing.

 

[bfogg]

I started doing something a few years back. every year I would have to actually go and find out myself if my grandchildren got the gifts or wait for checks to comeback that I sent them as they couldn't be bothered to pick up a phone and say thank you or anything like that.

When they were around 16 and 18 I read a letter in Dear Abby from a grandmother who never received a thank you for the checks she sent. Dear Abby said don't sign the check and see how quick you get a call, so i did the same thing.

I got a call Christmas day!!! Nana you forgot to sign the check!

That was the last check they got.

I decided to take that money and spend it on kids here at school who had no winter jacket, or no boots or no warm clothes, I did it on the Q,T. so they wouldn't know who it came from.

I have continued doing that for the past few years and really enjoy it.

I would rather do it for the kids who are in real need.

My spoiled (sorry to say) grandkids are now old enough that I don't feel the need to buy any longer.

And yes i know it was not the grandkids fault they weren't taught manners. however i did clue them in and let them know that when you are given a gift you say thank you at the very LEAST.

But it didn't happen, so I get real delight in doing what I do for Christmas, it's usually not at Christmas because they need warm things before Christmas but i consider it my Christmas present to me!

Hugs

Bonnie

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

Bonnie that's awesome!!!

i have to tell you something that happened to us, that brought tears to my eyes... just thinking about it still does, as a matter of fact!

a few years ago we came home from the in-laws Christmas Eve, late at night, to find the gate blocked with a bale of hay, a bag of oats and a sack of apples. there was a card, from Santa to the forgotten ones... thenin very small writing in the corner was a name and phone number - so i called the next day even though it was Christmas and the lady said she had heard we do rescue and they always try to do something every Christmas for animals in need. she said she put her name and number because she thought, at the last minute, that we might worry about where the stuff had come from considering the things that people do these days.

i was so touched, i can't tell you! i read and hear stories like this all the time and it always gets to me. so we try to do a little something whenever we can. it's not much because we have a lot going on right in our own yard, but we are SO blessed it's just not right not to pass it along...

hugs back to ya Bonnie! i miss talking to you... i need to remedy that soon! are you still headed this way around Christmas??

 

[MInx]

Wonderful story, wonderful sentiment..now I have to contemplate on what we'd like to do to start our own family tradition.

Maxine