I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Advent - Day 19

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.                                                         Isaiah 9:6

Why That Gift?

Name Withheld

Every Christmas, in celebration of the Savoir's birth, our family selects an individual or family to surprise with anonymous gifts. A few years ago we chose a family in our ward with three little children. We knew they were struggling financially, so we decided to buy them a few small toys and groceries for Christmas dinner,and leave it on their doorstep. However, each time I went shopping for those things, I felt troubled. When my husband asked me one night why I hadn't bought the gifts, I shrugged and told him I didn't know, that I just didn't feel good about it.

One afternoon a week before Christmas as I was driving past our bank, I was impressed to get a $100 bill. I immediately went into the bank to get one. When my husband came home from work that night, I told him what I'd done. Naturally, he wanted to know what we were supposed to do with it, but I didn't know.

Later that evening as we were eating dinner, I suddenly felt the money should go to the home of the family we had chosen to surprise with Christmas gifts. I asked my son to go with me to deliver the money. We left it in an envelope on their doorstep, rang the doorbell and ran. We heard nothing about it in the ensuing days and soon forgot about it. 

A year passed, during which the family moved away. Then, just before Christmas, the family visited our ward, and the sister stood to bear her testimony in Relief Society. She had a strong testimony of tithing, she said, and went on to explain that about a year ago, a week before Christmas, she and her husband had gone to tithing settlement, where they discovered they were $100 short. To be full-tithe payers they would need to pay it that night. She and her husband looked at each other in dismay. The only money they had was $100 they had worked hard to save for a Christmas celebration with their children. Since it was the only money they could spare, they gave it to the Bishop.

Through tears the sister related that they had gone from tithing settlement to home, only to find an envelop with a $100 bill in it on their doorstep. Her heart overflowed then with gratitude toward an understanding Heavenly Father. It was a Christmas she said she would never forget, and the gift she received that year was one that would stay with her always.

The First Noel

Advent - Day 13

And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sing which had been given.                                              3 Nephi 1:19

Check Out

by J.R. Labbe from Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Christmas Eve, a year ago, the Walmart in Cleburne, Texas, was jammed and hectic. Dozens of people were waiting in long lines at checkout counters to purchase small appliances, jewelry, toys and clothing that would be next-morning treasures under someone's tree.

The woman standing in cashier Jeffrey Kandt's line seemed to be living on the edge of subsistence. Her clothes were worn; her hands were those of a person who'd worked hard for what she had. She held a single item in her arms as she patiently waited to move to the front of the line. Her son would get the one present he had asked for: a Sony PlayStation2. She had saved all year for this; with tax, the total would be close to $220.

As Kandt scanned the game player's barcode into his register, the woman panicked. Where was her money? It wasn't where she remembered putting it earlier in the day. Her fear became palpable to the customers in line behind her as she started to cry.

Why my line? Kandt thought as he watched the frantic woman search through her clothes. He was going to have to call his manager to void the sale and return the game player to a locked shelf. He'd have to shutdown his checkout line and wait for her to come from another part of the crowded store--not something that any store manager or cashier wants on Christmas Eve, not with people waiting and the clock ticking down to closing time. I'm going to be late for church, Kandt thought.

And then an amazing thing happened. At the back of the line, a man took out his wallet, pulled out $100 and passed it forward. As the cash moved up the line, a twenty dollar bill was added here, a ten dollar bill there. Someone threw in a bunch of ones dug from the bottom of a jeans pocket.

When the collection finally reached the register, Kandt counted $220.

Strangers had fulfilled a poor woman's Christmas wish to give her son his dream gift.

And Jeffrey Kandt wasn't late for church. The people in his line in the Cleburne, Texas, Walmart on Christmas Eve 2002 had become one.