It was just a few weeks until Christmas and I could hardly
wait.
We had moved into our beautiful new house, and I had my very
own bedroom. No more sharing with my
annoying younger brother.
Mom was busy decorating and getting ready for the holiday. I’m not sure I had ever seen her so happy. She finally met someone who treated her well
and even liked us kids too.
Buzz was a kind man, quiet and gentle with a warm
smile. Walking in with his dusty work
boots, exhausted from work, he was never too tired to pick me up and give me a
huge bear hug.
We were living a life I could never have imagined. There was so much food in the house we had to
put another refrigerator on the back porch.
We didn’t have to worry about moving in the middle of the night because we
couldn’t pay the rent. Life was very
good.
“You are not going to start another project this close to
Christmas” I heard my mom telling Buzz.
He was always working on something. He built a new patio with a rock garden for
mom in the summer and a mini playhouse for me and my brother.
Despite her protests, he began working.
It was unusual for him to be doing it inside,
but it was winter, so I didn’t think much of it.
Mom was beside herself with the mess. She had worked so hard to clean and decorate
the house. He had even pushed the
Christmas tree off into the corner.
I was surprised and confused when I came home from school and
saw that he was actually tearing down the living room wall.
He and mom almost never argued but this was different. There were pieces of wood and sheet rock
everywhere. I was happy I had a room to
go to where I could stay away from it all.
As the days passed, mom accepted that this was going to
happen whether she liked it or not.
Just a couple of days until Christmas now and I was more
excited than ever. This was our first
Christmas in the new house.
Behind the canvas tarps, Buzz worked away, he looked like the
Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.
He even enlisted my brother to help with his “secret project”.
I was a little jealous that I wasn’t included but I kept
myself busy playing with my dolls and reading in my room.
Finally, it was Christmas eve. I knew this year would be special, but I had
no idea how much.
After dinner, mom sent me and my brother to our rooms. “We have something to do before Santa comes,
so you have to stay there until we tell you to come out” she instructed “and no
peeking” she nodded to my brother.
Presents, it must be our presents we both thought.
When she opened the door, she told me to close my eyes. Gently guiding me, we walked into the front
room.
What I saw when I opened my eyes was the most beautiful fireplace
I had ever seen.
That is what Buzz had
been working on. Whoever had lived there
before had covered up the fireplace with a wall.
It looked like something out of a fairy tale – the fire was glowing with twinkles of
light reflecting on the hearth.
Under the tree were two boxes, one for me and one for my
brother.
We didn’t usually get to open any gifts before Christmas
morning, so this was another unexpected surprise.
My box was not wrapped, so it was easy to just open the
top. As I did, up popped the most beautiful
little gray kitten in the world. I
immediately began to cry, as I carefully lifted her out of the box.
“Is she really for me?” I asked in disbelief, petting her
gently. "I think I'll call her Thumbelina because she's so tiny" I said.
My brother grinned at me and began opening his
package. It was a toolbox with real
tools to build things, he was thrilled.
Mom smiled and watched quietly as we laughed and played.
Buzz reached down from his rocking chair and lifted me,
still holding the kitten, into his lap.
It was truly a magical Christmas.
