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Tip of the Week |
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December 13, 2023 |
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Gifts from strangers |
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There are some gifts you just can't refuse – even if you don't know why at the time. I was sitting on a bench at a storage facility waiting to be shown a unit where our belongings could be stored. Most moves are not easy but this one was especially challenging. Our house didn't sell, and we were forced to move into a small apartment in our new town in Texas. It didn't seem like much of a home. Our children were young and needed a lot of attention and space to play. I was working, trying to move and with the holidays approaching, it was overwhelming. 
I wasn't in much of a holiday spirit when a stranger, smiling and carrying a box, approached me and my daughter. My daughter, who was then a little over two years old, was sitting beside me on the bench, playing with her doll. The woman chatted with us for a bit and welcomed us to Texas. Then she reached in her box and said, "I was just cleaning out my storage unit and was throwing out some old stuff, but maybe your daughter would like this holiday decoration." Now, the last thing I needed was something else to put in a small apartment, but my daughter's eyes lit up when she saw it was a Santa. So, there was no way I could refuse the gift. After wishing us a happy holiday, the woman left. I looked at the box. It didn't look like something that had been in storage for a while. It was a dancing Santa and it looked brand new. We took it home and my daughter couldn't wait to set it up. We plugged it in, and the Santa started dancing to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." My daughter started dancing along with Santa and before long, I was too – not worried about the move anymore. I mean, how can you think about your troubles when you're dancing along with a two-year-old? We treasure that Santa every year. It's one of the first decorations to go up in our house. A lot has changed in our lives, but that Santa continues to dance for us every holiday season. And, of course, we dance along with it, grateful that we've been given just what we needed. – By Catherine Mueller | ||||||||||||||||
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