One of the highlights of our Christmas season was an unexpected encounter in a hardware store on Christmas Eve. Without really meaning to, we found ourselves trying to complete a home improvement project right during the holidays: framing in a closet to create a new bedroom downstairs for Delaney. In an effort to make use of Brent's vacation time, we ended up heading to the hardware store on Christmas Eve for a few last supplies. Everyone there was so helpful and kind. There was one customer there, in particular, who was really smitten with our little family. We noticed him watching with a smile as I tried to keep the kids corralled so Brent could finish up. When we went to check out, the clerk told us to have the kids pick out any wagon they would like from the display at the front of the store. We looked at him in confusion, and he informed us that the gentleman who had been watching us wanted to treat the kids to a wagon for Christmas. We were stunned, but he insisted that they choose one. (We were secretly hoping that they would not gravitate to the most expensive one, which it seems kids usually have the tendency to do!) To our relief, they chose a simple, classic "Radio Flyer"--yet it was still more money than I could ever imagine a stranger spending on us for no reason at all.
In an interesting twist, I later found out that the generous stranger was the father-in-law of one of my very best friends, Kristin. I was able to find out his address so I could send him a thank you card and a picture of the kids having fun in their new wagon. I was so touched that someone, for no other reason than pure selflessness, would bestow such a generous gift on a family he knew nothing about. I believe that is the best example of the Christmas spirit that has ever touched my life.
