The Frost Has Melted

The frost around my heart, that is. I've been doing all the Christmas prep... the decorating, the gift buying, cards, Christmas programs, etc, but I've felt like I've just been going through the motions and that I haven't really been in the Christmas groove. That's been true until today. I've been reading the "Sub for Santa" spotlights in the paper all month. Each time I finish reading a blurb about some family that needs help this Christmas I've thought, "Poor family, I hope someone helps them". Yesterday I was reading the "help this family" spotlight and at the end of the blurb it said something along the lines that there were still over 400 families in Utah County waiting for a Sub for Santa sponsor. I thought "Oh sad! I hope they all find someone." Then it hit me... I could be a family's "someone". I emailed the United Way and asked to be matched up with a family with teenage boys. Almost immediately they emailed me back with the information for 2 families. I took my boys shopping for the families yesterday. It was a nightmare... parking was bad, the stores were so crowded, Miles was tired, the stuff I needed to buy wasn't on sale and I didn't have time to go on a wild goose chasing looking for a bargain, and I still wasn't really into the whole thing. We brought stuff and took it home and sorted it, then we called the families to make delivery arrangements. One told us to come anytime. The other asked us to come today between 8 and 9 a.m.

This morning we woke up to about a foot of wet, sloppy snow. I went out around 7 a.m. and started to shovel. In 20 minutes I shoveled a stripe about 6 feet wide by the width of our driveway. It was going to take me forever to shovel the driveway and we needed to deliver the gifts this morning. I thought about calling and rescheduling but I was afraid that the families would think we were stringing them along. I needed shoveling help so I went and dragged Jonathan and Nolan out of bed to help me ("assemble the minions") and let Dan stay inside with Miles. My "minions" and I shoveled and shoveled. It was after 8 a.m. when we finished. Dan and I left to deliver the gifts around 8:30 a.m. We arrived at the first family's home and I knocked on their door and the mom answered. I handed her the gifts and she sincerely thanked me and then handed me a Christmas card that her boys each had written a thank you note in. I thought that was really cool. We drove to the next family's house. We pulled up to this 4-plex. A man and his son were out shoveling. I told them I was looking for the "X" family. They said they were the "X" family. I was worried about the boy finding out why I was there so I showed the man the Sub for Santa papers and he asked me to bring the packages around to the back and his wife would come out and meet me there. As I was leaving the little boy (he's 10) asked me if I needed help getting my car out of the snow. How awesome. I was there giving something materialistic to his family and he offered a gift of service to me. I thanked the boy and assured him that my car would be just fine in the snow (I love my Subaru) and then we were on our way.

The acts of kindness given and offered to me by those I was attempting to help far overshadowed what I had to offer to them. In trying to help another, I am the one who benefited the most.