The Christmas Tree

Most Christmases from my childhood just blur together in my memory, but when I was about 9 years old, I had a Christmas experience that I will never forget. My dad had lost his job and was working whatever jobs he could find just to make ends-meat. We didn't have much, but we got by.
As Christmas approached, my siblings and I kept asking my parents for a Christmas tree. We always went out and bought a real tree. This year, we had not. Late on Christmas Eve my parents decided my dad would take us to get a tree, even though money was extremely tight.
When we got to the store, we looked around at all the trees. Since we were so late in the game, there were several scanty trees and not much to choose from. We finally found the perfect one. I had never seen a more wonderful tree! This was the it! No one, in the history of Christmas, had ever found a more amazing tree!!!

We told the man at the front that we had found our tree. As my dad went to pay for it, and the man said we could just take it. It was Christmas Eve; he wasn't going to sell any more trees, so we could just have it for free. At the time, I didn't realize what a wonderful Christmas gift this was. He didn't know that we really couldn't afford a tree, but my parents were trying to make Christmas a good one for their kids. I don't know the name of that man, and he probably doesn't even remember that experience, but he has forever had an impact on my life and my view of Christmas.

A man with no idea of what was going on in our life, gave freely of what he had. He gave me, and my family, a Christmas memory never to be forgotten. I hope that one day I can do the same!