Chicken Soup for the Soul by Newmark

Author:Newmark
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicken Soup for the Soul

The Last Gift

Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.

~Ruth Carter Stapleton

The way we open presents has become something of a family joke. We have a precise set of rules. We go from youngest to oldest, one at a time, and the presents get better and better each round. Every time it’s your turn to open a present, you have to ask the room: “This one now?”

So, you may open socks first, but in a later round you’ll open that gift you’ve been hoping for all year. But there’s never any doubt which one is the absolute last gift — the grand finale. And it comes in a simple, white envelope tucked into the tree.

Years ago, when my sister Kallie and I were very young, our dad asked us to take the money our family would have spent on him and use it to bless others instead. Our mom began giving anonymously to a different cause or family each year. She told him what we did in a Christmas card that he would open last, after all the presents had been unwrapped.

One year, Kallie and I decided we wanted to do the same. We asked Dad to devote some of our Christmas present budget to someone who really needed it. This also turned into a tradition. Through the years, he’s given such gifts as a donation to a foster-care nonprofit, a refrigerator to a school in Africa, and emergency food and clothing to a disaster-relief network. All the time, we donated anonymously because, as he said, “There is tremendous power in self-sacrifice for the sake of others through giving in secret, as we read in scripture.”

That line is from one of those Christmas letters he writes to tell us what he did in our honor. Those letters are as dear to us as the generous acts themselves. Our dad, the strong, silent type who always wanted to be John Wayne, suddenly becomes a big, old softie in these eloquent, expressive essays. He starts by recapping our year and telling us how proud of us he is, and then reveals what he did to give back.

One gift in particular sticks out in my mind. Our family has always been connected by music. I played the very same trumpet that my dad did when he was in high school, and my sister and I both took piano lessons while growing up. She still plays the same two Christmas carols each year. That’s why my dad reached out to a neighborhood piano teacher to see if she knew of any students who could use a little help.

The instructor told my dad about a twelve-year-old girl we’ll call Yesenia who was very talented and dedicated to her lessons. Her dad was also very devoted to her learning. Working in a local feedlot, he didn’t make a lot of money, but he still managed to pay for her weekly lessons. Yesenia would practice every day at home, but her little electronic keyboard was less than ideal.

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