A Christmas Story🌲🎁...

A lovely story I read

Hope you can share it with your kids too

A Christmas Story🌲🎁...

GRANDMA & SANTA CLAUS

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid...
I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb:
"There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.
Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything.
She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted..."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything.
As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days.
"Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.
For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.
I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbours, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all us kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!
I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.
"Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it.

Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.
Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for Bobby's front door, dropped the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.
Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby...

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes.
That night, I realized that those awful rumours about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were -- ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have that Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95...That store clerk was one of Santa's helpers, too!😊

May you always have LOVE to share,
HEALTH to spare and
FRIENDS who care.

And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!💝💫🌟

Are we ✔or✖ *Right or Wrong*

Five men got lost in a vast forest. They tried to find their way out.

The first man said, “I will *follow my intuition* and go left.”

The second man said, “I will *go right*. I have a strong feeling about this.”

The third man said, “I think I will *walk back* the same path we came. This should be the safest option.”

The fourth man said: “I think we are on the *right track already*, so I will keep going straight. I am sure this forest will end and I will find a village or a farm to ask for directions.”

The fifth man said, “I don’t know what to do. I think I will *climb up this tall tree* and take a better look around before I make up my mind.”

So the fifth man did that. While he was climbing, the other four men scattered towards their own directions. The fifth man now could see from above what was the shortest way to a village. He thought that the others should not have chosen the paths they did. He was wrong, though.

Each man chose his own path and gained a different experience. The man who went left, found a long path but in the end, it led him to the town.

The man who went right, had to fight a pack of wolves, but this way he learned how to survive in the forest.

The man who went back, met another team of hikers and he made new friends.

The man who went straight, found indeed a farm and was hosted by the family for a couple of days before leaving for the village.

Everyone was *enriched in their own unique way* by the journey.

Some reflections on this story...

*What if, there are no "right" or "wrong" decisions?*

Could it be that every decision offers us new experiences, which in turn offers us innumerable *further opportunities for growth?*

It has taken every decision of our life to bring us to where we are right now. In the fullness of the present, are we really in the wrong place? Even if it feels so, can we be sure?

What if there are no *mistakes*? Only *opportunities?*

Who hurts you!!

**

_When Abraham Lincoln became the president of America, his father was a shoemaker.  And, naturally, egoistic people were very much offended that a shoemaker’s son should become the president.   On the first day, as Abraham Lincoln entered to give his inaugural address, just in the middle, one man stood up.  He was a very rich aristocrat.  He said, “Mr. Lincoln, you should not forget that your father used to make shoes for my family.”  And the whole Senate laughed; they thought that they had made a fool of Abraham Lincoln._

_But certain people are made of a totally different mettle. Lincoln looked at the man directly in the eye and said, *“Sir, I know that my father used to make shoes for your family, and there will be many others here because he made shoes the way nobody else can”. He was a creator. His shoes were not just shoes; he poured his whole soul into them. I want to ask you, have you any complaint? Because I know how to make shoes myself. If you have any complaint I can make you another pair of shoes. But as far as I know, nobody has ever complained about my father’s shoes. He was a genius, a great creator and I am proud of my father”.*_

_The whole Senate was struck dumb. They could not understand what kind of man Abraham Lincoln was. He was proud because his father did his job so well, with so much enthusiasm, such a passion, and perfection._

*_It does not matter what you do. What matters is how you do it of your own accord, with your own vision, with your own love.  Then whatever you touch becomes gold._*

*Moral*

_No one can hurt you without your consent. It is not what happens to us that hurts us. It is our response that hurts us._

*“Ships don’t sink because of the water around them; ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down”*
WONDERFUL PIECE FOR THE VERY MATURE MIND.
☝ Couldn't resist to share this.