I glanced in the window at Mr. Martin’s Store. Inside was all decorated for Christmas. The front window display held a new box of colored pencils. I would have to forget about buying them for Amy. It looked as though I would not be buying store bought gifts for my family this year, at least not for Amy. I had not been able to find work in weeks, which meant no money to spend on gifts. And I could not possibly beg money from Marmie. The civil war had left us poorer than we had been before.

I turned away from the store window. Wind hit my face and the snow blinded me for a moment. My spirits seemed lower now than it had been before I looked in the store window. Nothing seemed to be going the right way this year. I went around the shop’s corner.

Our home was a little walk farther. When I would arrive home I knew that I would walk into the house tired, depressed, and empty handed without presents. And on top of that I was not in a Christmas mood.

Across the street was a small home I had past by several times on different occasions. It had never caught my eye before, but tonight, it did. A family stood by a window decorating their skinny Christmas tree. Every member’s face was lit up. They did not seem to have much on their tree. But they had something better than that. The love that they showed to one another. Something clicked inside of me. My spirit seemed renewed. I longed to be inside our home spending Christmas with my family.

Snow was coming down quicker now. I raced home. Warm lights were glowing from the house. I walked into the parlor. My family was occupying themselves in some way or other. “Merry Christmas,” I said happily.

I realize now that Christmas is not about the decorated trees or presents, but it comes from the heart. It‘s about sharing time with family. Most of all it is about the birth of Jesus, being born years ago in a little town called Bethlehem.

Caiti

By Francine Rivers

Francine Rivers will draw you in the book The Shoe Box by the first page. This wonderful story about a little boy around six years old carries a shoebox around everywhere he goes. When his mother no longer can care for him and his father is in jail he moves in with a married couple that has no children. They love this strange little boy. But secretly the couple wonders what articles are hidden in the box. The children in school and his teacher even wonders what the “shoebox thing” is about. If the boy is asked what’s in it he just says “Just Stuff.“ When his church begins a Christmas Play he wants to be a wise man. A woman makes him the most beautiful outfit for his part. On the night of the program he carries in his shoebox as his gift. He lays it near the manger. After the program his friends and family ask him where the shoebox went. The little boy just smiles to himself; he knows where it has disappeared. This story has a wonderful heartwarming end. If you are able to obtain a copy of it this Christmas, pour yourself a cup of hot cocoa and sit on the sofa by the roaring fire for a wonderful Christmas story!

Caiti

~*~