Just this week someone said to me, “Sure wish I knew what go get Dad for Christmas. . . . I’ve wracked my brain and wandered down a hundred overstocked store isles already. I can’t think of a thing. Christmas is so frustratingly complicated.”

Well I have an idea. Just relax and make it easy. At the same time give the perfect gift . In reality Christmas is very simple, It is a celebration of generous unconditional love. So why not give it. I once read about a young teenager who had to get up at four every morning to help his father milk and do chores. Life was hard for his family. They struggled to meet the challenges of a farm that demanded great toil, sweat to eak out a living with a mule and a single bottom plow.

On one occasion the boy over heard his parents talking. They were trying to figure a way to allow him to sleep longer but because of the demands of the farm there were no options. From the conversation and the tone of their voices it occurred to him how special he was to his parents and how much his father loved him. This inspired him to spring out of bed at his fathers first call every day at that ungodly hour.

One Christmas eve he turned in with a heavy heart. He had been unable to afford some wonderful gift for his Dad. Suddenly he had an idea. He would get up extra early and do the milking and feeding as a grand gift. A gesture of the love he felt for his father. At four on that Christmas morning his father called him then headed out to the barn. The boy lay under the covers, his heart beating joyfully at what his father would find when he reached in to get the milk can. His father would know who was responsible.

In a few minutes he heard his dad come back into the house and into his room. The man was so overcome with emotion he could scarcely speak. He just took his son in his arms and said over and over “This is the finest Christmas I ever had, the very finest.”

Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.

WIT & WISDOM – December 24, 1998