Christmas decorations: packed & away – check. Blog: updated with some memories – check. It seems like only the sales and a few lingering street decorations mark the festivities so recently passed.
Yet despite the dour news of Wall Street, Conrad and I look about our streets with uplifted hearts, still on an emotional high from the year passed and ready to face the year ahead.
As Conrad and I look back upon Christmas 08, we don’t first think of our flight delays, wrapping paper or shopping lines. We think of our Christmas tree. And we think of how we posted it, for free, 7 days before Christmas, on Craig’s List. And how we were touched and surprised – not by the 5 responses that came into our email in about 10 minutes, but the story one woman told that touched our hearts and filled us with a real spirit of Christmas. This year, Jennifer (that was her name) found herself unemployed and in a new apartment in the Bronx with her 9 year old son. Unfortunately, the tree was simply one of the luxuries that had to go. “My son kind of understands, but I know he would love a tree in our new apartment,” she wrote. “I hope to be able to have a tree this year, but if not I will make the best of it.” I called her right away. We talked on the phone and her exuberance was palpable. After confirming babysitting duties with a neighbor, Jennifer was able to make a dash from the Bronx to Harlem, load up our now naked Christmas tree on her car, and return with her husband to their apartment where there son would awake, surprised, to a Christmas tree. She may not realize it, but the tree wasn’t free. Jennifer paid us in kindness, in hope, and in faith. She filled our hearts with her hopes for a better tomorrow and a reminder that we are all an active part of the communities we live in.
When she got home with her tree, she sent us an e-mail: “In These Times I Trust In God And I Know It Will Always Be O.K.” I sure hope so, and we firmly commit to do our part to try.
Our best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy and mindful 2009.
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