A Story for Christmas

Nothing to do on an afternoon, so Micah and I came up with an idea.  We would write a story for about 10 minutes and then read them to each other.  Here is what I came up with.

One more present under the tree.  The green wrapping paper sparkled from the flashing white lights on the tree.  This small gift was almost lost beneath the wrinkled piles of paper strewn around the living room, but as Micah felt around for any last presents his hand felt the hardness of the box.  He pulled it out and said, “Who is this for?”  It had no name written on it.  None of the family claimed it as being from them.  So it was a mystery.  Dad said, “Micah, why don’t you open it.”  So Micah tore into the wrapping like he had on every other gift that evening.  He revealed a wooden box that looked like a hand made jewelry box or a music box.  Everyone looked on, not knowing who it could possibly be from.  Maybe it was a mistake.  Maybe whatever was inside the box would explain who the gift was for.  So Micah opened the box and inside was a note.  Just a note.  This would reveal who the mystery gift was for or from most likely.  Micah opened the note and read out loud.  “Merry Christmas!  Your real gift is outside.  Go out your back door and you will understand.”  The family looked at each other with complete astonishment.  Who was this gift from?

The family walked to the kitchen where the back door was and opened it.  There, outside in the cold, was a small group of people waiting for them.  They realized that these were people from church.  What was going on?  The pastor said, “We know how hard this year has been for you with Steve not having a job and Leslie’s medical bills stacking up, so this Christmas we want to give you a special gift.  A few weeks ago we bought a bunch of lottery tickets together and promised that if we won we would give it all to you.  We won!”  The family looked on in complete bewilderment as the pastor continued, “This is a check for $700,000,000 and it is all for you.  Merry Christmas!”  And with that, Leslie woke up to the sight of Steve leaning over her in bed saying “Merry Christmas.”  It had all been a dream.  A wonderful, but sadly not real, dream.