The Story of the Christmas Wreath

Before I blog about my amazing Christmas, I promised to share a very special Christmas story.... The Christmas Wreath.

Many don't know that I grew up in a home where money was tight, especially each December. However, my mother always made sure we had a nice Christmas. Even if it meant the bills didn't get paid that month. Our gifts may have not been the most expensive ones, but they were always nice and we always had a large pile under the tree on Christmas morning. Because that's how I was brought up, I never really thought about others not having any presents at all. We were poor, and we had presents. All poor people should be able to buy presents, even if they were bought from the dollar store, right? I also thought anyone who couldn't afford presents would get help from some Sub for Santa or church organization. I was wrong.

It was my second year teaching that I really realized what it meant to be poor. My students and their families were poorer than poor. They lived in apartments that were more like dumps, and some didn't have homes at all. Some of my students were homeless. When a family is homeless, the last thing they are thinking of are presents. I blogged once before about Chance and his family that I love so much. Their family did not have a home for many months. Finally, at the end of November/beginning of December, they found a government subsidized home to rent and they had enough money to get in. They were ecstatic!!! They invited us over to show us the new place. There was not food in the cupboards. There was not any furniture. There were no beds or dressers. There was a kitchen table and miss matched chairs they found in a dumpster. The kids didn't talk about what they wanted for Christmas, but they did talk about a tree. Now that they had a roof over their heads, they wanted a Christmas tree. I don't know if they had ever had one before.

We came back a couple of weeks later to find a sofa in their living room. It was destroyed, but it worked. They also found it near a dumpster. But more importantly, in their living room without even a lamp to see, there was a Christmas tree. When I saw this tree, the first word that came to my head was repulsive. I was a little taken back. But as the children and the mother told me about their tree, I began to cry. They had gone dumpster diving in several dumpsters nearby, and found the remnants of 3 different artificial Christmas trees. They didn't have the official stand or the right pieces, so they duct taped the pieces together. To hold it up, they tied a string around it and nailed it to the wall. They told me about how the Lord had blessed them with a tree. How blessed they were to find enough pieces to create a Christmas tree. They then told me how blessed they were to have paper and some crayons to make the ornaments. On used lined paper from old homework assignments, the children decorated little ornaments, tore them apart, and then stuck a branch of the tree through the middle to hang them. It suddenly became the most beautiful tree in the world as they children gave me a tour of their tree and their ornaments. I think these children were more excited to have this Christmas tree than a new gaming system on Christmas morning.

The mother then called the children all around and asked Mike and I to have a seat on the caved in, dirty sofa. She had a gift for us. Not only had the Lord blessed them with a Christmas tree, but the Lord gave them enough extra pieces that they could make us a wreath as a gift. The wreath was not roundish, nor ovalish, and not even squarish. Created with three different scraps of artifical Christmas trees, with rods sticking out all over, it was perfect. It symbolized all that really matters during the Christmas season. It taught me the greatest gifts are those you cannot buy. It reminded me of the true meaning of Christmas.

I vowed to never forget what I learned that Christmas. To help me remember, we put up our Charlie Brown Christmas wreath each year. I have put in some flowers and placed a ribbon on it to make it more festive, but it still maintains its not so roundish, ovalish, squarish shape. And this family and I talk each Christmas day and recant the memories of this special Christmas. We discuss our blessings and how that was a Christmas we'll never forget. We remember our Savior and all he has given us, including each other. And this is the story of the Christmas wreath.