The Spirt of Christmas Past

[HockeyMom]

Christmas of 1990 was not a good one for us. My husband's job was off shored to India and he was out of work for over 6 months. Although he applied at everything from supermarkets to janitorial, nobody would hire him. "You are overqualified". "We will train you and then you will quit when something better comes along". We had gone through all our savings. Our mortgage was in arrears. We were getting our food from the local church food pantry. I bought my kids clothing at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

My Mom was living on Social Security, but gave my girls money to buy new winter coats for Christmas. I got them at the thrift store so I might be able to save some money to at least get them a present for Christmas. I gave my 11 year old daughter $10 so she could buy a tape that she so much wanted to buy.

I took her to a small local mall one snowy December day. As we were walking through the parking lot, we saw a homeless, shopping cart woman sitting on the ground by a fence in the snow. She was wearing a dress and her bare legs were very red and covered in sores. My daughter stopped walking and just stared at her. "Mom", she said to me, "I want to give my $10 to that woman". "I have a nice warm home and a family who loves me". "This woman is cold and all alone". My eyes welled up as I listened to my child. I told her perhaps it might be better to buy something for this woman to eat; with the condition that SHE give the food to the woman as her present. So, we walked to a deli and bought her a hot cup of soup, a sandwich, and some hot chocolate. When my daughter gave the woman the food we bought, she looked up and said, "Bless you, my child".

The next day my husband got a phone call from a coworker he hadn't heard from in years. The man told my husband that he had a dream about him and couldn't get him out of his mind and just had to call him. My husband told him of his job loss. Well, his former coworker was now a director of a data center at a large corporation. He said their manager had recently quit and they were looking to hire. To make a long story short, by the following week my husband had a job, a promotion, and a nice increase in salary.

Although we looked for her, we never saw that shopping cart lady again. My Mom said we had probably met an angel. It was so truly amazing at the change in our fortunes so soon after meeting her. What was the name of the song my daughter wanted to buy? "What goes around, comes around".

Happy Holidays to everyone.

[FSogol]

1. K & R. Happy Holidays and thanks for raising a good kid. n/t

[Skittles]

2. a lovely story

recently I spoke to an ex-boyfriend who was laid off, and it just so happens ANOTHER ex-boyfriend of mine needed to hire someone with his skills. I passed him the contact info on the condition YOU GUYS DO NOT TALK ABOUT ME. He agreed, and he got the job. Argh, no doubt they talk about me. :D