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The best Christmas gifts are not the ones that cost the most money. The most cherished Christmas gifts, (or any gifts for that matter), are the ones that show the love and spirit in which they were given. They aren’t required to be physical gifts. They can be actions or services that mean more than anything money can buy.
One of the best Christmas gifts I ever received was a complete surprise. I was working patrol on the Long Beach Police Department on Christmas Eve. Our shift ended at 2:30 AM. My two sons were ages 3 and 5. I knew when I got home, “Santa” was going to have to unpack several boxes and put together a bicycle with training wheels and a half dozen toys that had been hidden in the loft in the garage. I was already bone tired from my ten hour shift and the thought of spending another two to three hours reading instructions and putting together toys, fatigued me even more.
While driving home, I estimated that by the time I was finished assembling everything, it would be just about the time our boys would be running to the living room to see what Santa had put around the Christmas tree. I wondered if I was going to get any sleep after that. After all, a parent can’t miss the thrill of seeing the kids’ excitement on Christmas morning.
When I pulled into my driveway, I noticed that my sister-in-law Debby and her husband, Steve had parked their car at the curb in front of my house. I knew that they were coming over Christmas Day for dinner, but I didn’t know that they came early to spend the night. That was fine with me, but I wondered how I was going to put the bike and all the toys together without waking them up.
In the garage, I noticed that the boxes were no longer in the loft. Good, I thought, my wife, Judi, had brought the boxes down. That will save me twenty minutes or so. As I walked into the house from the garage, I could see the glow of the Christmas tree lights in the living room. As I quietly tiptoed into the living room, I saw that Debby and Steve were asleep on different sections of the couch.
As I glanced toward the Christmas tree, I was amazed and to see that the bike and all of the toys were completely assembled and strategically placed around the tree. Relieved of this duty and exhausted from my shift, I was able to plop into bed and get a full three hours sleep before the cacophony of Christmas morning woke me.
I didn’t really know Steve too well at that time. I had only met him a couple of times at family functions. That Christmas morning, I told him how thankful I was for his work. Steve merely shrugged and said it was “no big deal”. It had only taken him about an hour. I told him It would have taken me two or three times hours to put the toys together and it was a “big deal” to me. Steve told me that he thought I would be a little tired when I got home, so he just assembled everything after the boys went to bed.
This true story proves that the old adage is correct: “It’s not the gift, it’s that thought that counts.”
