The Gift

Her only wish that year was to have a Christmas tree… for she lived where no trees grew… “I do not wish it to be very big,” she said “a little one would do.” She had been sick for a while and her children were bereft… wanting to make her wish come true not knowing how many Christmases she had left… So one day off they went…leaving their tiny home by the sea and walked until they came to a place of winter snow… and Christmas trees. Halfway up a mountain they stopped…they knew their search was done. Their mom’s little tree sat in a clearing…illuminated by the sun. They told the little tree about their mom…about their tiny house by the sea and asked if she would be so kind…as to become their Christmas tree. The little tree stood tall…at least as tall as a little tree could. Would I like to be your Christmas tree?…she said. “Of course… of course I would.” Tenderly they cut her down…and carried her to their tiny house by the sea and when their mother woke up that Christmas morning… she awoke to her Christmas tree. Their mom recovered fully…and is to this day content… happy as can be and she tells her children the best gift she ever received… was that little Christmas tree… But when she thinks about it… when to that Christmas her mind drifts… she understands the the importance of that tree but she knows the journey was their gift.