| 
It's just a small, white envelope stuck
among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It
has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so...
It all began because my husband Mike hated
Christmas---oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of
it-overspending...the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle
Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma---the gifts given in desperation because you
couldn't think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass
the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for
Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at
the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a
non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters,
dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them
together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms
and sparkling new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other
team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a
wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford.
Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight
class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters
with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.
Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I
wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential,
but losing like this could take the heart right out of them."
Mike loved kids - all kids-and he knew them, having
coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his
present came.
That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store
and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the
inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note
inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me.
His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that
year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition---one year
sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check
to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before
Christmas, and on and on.
The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It
was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new
toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the
tree to reveal its contents. As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical
presents, but the envelope never lost its allure.
The story doesn't end there. You see, we lost Mike last
year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief
that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree,
and in the morning, it was joined by three more. Each of our children, unbeknown to the
others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad.
The tradition has grown and someday will expand even
further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation
watching as their fathers take down the envelope.
Mike's spirit, like the Christmas
spirit, will always be with us.
~Author Unknown~ |
