Christmas Giving
By Evelyn Horan
One December morning, Father Michael rang the church bell for catechism class. Jenny Davidson and I hurried to Mrs. Stewart's classroom of fifth and sixth graders at Mary Star of the Sea Church.
"Oh, goodness!" Jenny moaned, hitting her forehead with her fist.
"What's the matter?"
"I forgot my can of food for the needy for the millionth time!" Jenny frowned and shook her head. Then she grabbed my arm and said, "Hey, Alyssa! I just thought of a super idea! Maybe our class could get together and give food and gifts to a special needy family this Christmas."
"Sure," I said, "that is a great idea! Let’s ask Mrs. Stewart."
"And you know what? I already know a girl who is needy. Maybe we could give her family a nice Christmas."
"Who is she," I asked.
"Her family just moved in a house down the street from me, and she goes to our school,” Jenny said as we entered the classroom. "I think her name is Maria Costello."
"Oh yes," I said. "She's shy and quiet, but seems nice."
"And her family needs help," Jenny whispered as we sat down.
As soon as we reached a place in our lesson where the class could present their ideas for a Christmas project, I raised my hand and suggested, "We could buy gifts for a needy family."
Then Jenny said, "Maria Costello's family lives down the street from me. My mom visited them recently, and she said they’ll need help this Christmas because Maria's father isn't able to work. I was thinking, maybe we could put on a bake sale to raise money for food and gifts for them."
"Would you like to help the Costello family, class?" Mrs. Stewart asked.
"Yes, let's do it!" they all agreed.
Mrs. Stewart smiled. "That's a very Christian thing for you to do. The bake sale could be used to help the Costellos, and perhaps several other needy families."
We talked about the food items we would bake. I decided to make popcorn balls.
"I'll make chocolate chip cookies," Jenny said.
"And I'll ask my mom to made a large sheet cake with chocolate frosting," I said.
Father Michael put a notice in the bulletin about the fifth and sixth grade Catechism class bake sale to be held the following Saturday and announced it at every Mass.
"Just look at all the people here," I said to Jenny at our tables the day of the sale.
"I know," Jenny said, "I just have a few chocolate chip cookies left.”
In no time, parents and members of the parish and community bought everything we'd baked. After the sale we headed back to class to discuss our next step in the project. I laughed and said, "Boy, Jenny, I'm glad we remembered to save some snacks for ourselves!"
"Me, too!" Jenny chuckled. "I'm hungry from smelling all those good smells at my
table."
After some discussion, the class decided each member could buy food or gifts with the money we'd earned, but we had to stay within a certain price range.
"And let's wrap our gifts in colorful Christmas paper before the party," Michael said.
"Yes," Christina said, "then everything will be cheery and bright!"
Father Michael and Mrs. Stewart helped, too. They invited Maria's family and several other needy families to come to our class party to receive our gifts.
I'll never forget the look of happiness on Maria Costello's face that day. She reached out and gave Jenny and me a great big hug.
"Thanks for thinking about us," she said softly. "My dad can't work, and he was sad because our family wasn't having much of a Christmas this year."
There were tears in Maria's eyes as she went on. "He broke his leg on the job, and he can't go back to work until it gets better."
"I'm sorry, Maria," I said, putting my arm around her shoulder.
"How's he doing now?" Jenny asked.
"Oh, much better," Maria said smiling and brushing away her tears. "The doctor says he'll be back to work in a month or so."
"Good news!" I turned Maria around and led her in the direction of the dessert table. "Let's go get some punch and eat some of Jenny's chocolate chip cookies."
"Hey wait up! I want a cookie, too," Jenny said, following close behind.
As we munched on our cookies, I felt a warm glow inside. When I looked across Maria to Jenny, I could see Jenny was as happy as I, because we had followed the teachings of Our Lord. He had shown us the importance of helping each other with loving kindness.
Jenny smiled and nodded to me. What a special blessing it was to help our new friend and have a great Christmas this year.
©2011 Evelyn Horan
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