I hope you all enjoy this PT2

[Glen]

SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE

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
-- the
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. 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 head gear, 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 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,
unbeknownst 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. May
we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season,
and the true
Christmas spirit this year and always. God Bless! -- pass
this along
to those friends and loved ones who you know are the givers
who
understand the true meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas

[Rafter CT]

Glen, Thanks for the story it truly is better to give than recieve. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

[Glen]

You're Welcome Rafter & Thank You as well. I hope your CHRISTmas is the best ever!!