by Jason Wright
“Don’t worry about it. I have it under control,” he reminded her for the umpteenth time. He collected what he needed from Jenny the very next day.
As Christmas Eve finally arrived, they learned that all their worrying about how to deliver the bags in secret had been wasted in vain. During their first pass down the road, they saw an empty driveway and no lights on at Jack’s house. Tom had asked a friend to ask Jack what he was doing for Christmas. The answer had been a very revealing “nothing.”
Just to be sure, TJ parked on the street a couple of houses away. Will parked directly across from him. They popped their car trunks according to plan and the four adults each carried a bag to the front porch. TJ drove off but Lexi and Will stayed behind to keep an eye on the surprise.
After he dropped off Carol, Jacqueline, and Tom, TJ drove back to Jack’s house to relieve Will and Lexi. They drove away as soon as they saw him pull behind them. A little blue two-door car came toward him just as TJ turned off his headlights. The car pulled into Jack’s driveway and the man TJ saw in Chilton stepped out and into the glow of the nearby streetlight. He saw the bags before opening the back door to pull his daughter gently from her car seat. Jack saw them, too, and ran towards the porch. “Hold up, Jack,” his father said. TJ slid down in his seat as the man looked around.
Father, son, and daughter stood together on the porch staring at the bags. Dad looked around again while Jack shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Finally, the man opened one of the bags and looked inside. Jack said, “Yes!” and the little girl clapped. It took two trips to get the heavy bags inside their home. TJ waited a few more minutes and drove off, smiling all the way and feeling tears gather on his eyelashes until they dropped heavily to his cheeks.
John Hanson spent most of the night sitting in his worn cloth recliner trying to determine the who and why of his unbelievable front porch discovery. It couldn’t have been either his parents or Wendy’s; they had already done everything they could financially over the past year. All they could do now was send small gifts for the kids. Nobody at work could have pulled this together. Before heading to bed he decided to carefully re-label his gifts so they came from Wendy instead of Santa.
The next morning, John led his son Jack and daughter Amber down the hall and into the living room. “Before we see what our mystery Santa left us, let’s open our gifts from Mom.” Jack tried to be excited about new soccer shoes and Amber was genuinely thrilled to get another stuffed duck. But both were curious about the other pile of presents.
Finally John turned them loose. Jack quickly divided the gifts into two piles and the kids tore wildly at the colorful wrapping paper. Tom’s research paid off. Jack was astonished to unwrap the video game console he thought he would never own. There were game cartridges, a soccer ball, DVDs, and a digital camera. John helped Amber open dolls and a kitchen set. Both children unwrapped pants, shirts, socks, underwear, and a warm winter coat for each.
As Jack fished through torn Christmas wrap looking for unopened gifts, he stopped and held up a small package. “This one’s for you, dad.” The tag simply said, “To: Father.”
John carefully removed the wrapping and found a piece of folded paper held to a container with a rubber band. On the back of the paper were written the words “Read this first.”
Sir: We don’t know each other. Our lives will probably never again cross paths and yet we share something very important. Life is teaching us something wonderful about Christmas. The gifts you received today, including this one, are just things. They will bring smiles to the children’s faces but, in the end, they are just things. You probably don’t need a stranger to talk about the true meaning of Christmas but I need to do it. You see, giving has always been a mechanical thing to me. At least it was until this Christmas. Because of you I have learned that the most valuable things in life can’t be wrapped in paper or carried in a bag. Precious things are given and taken by a loving God. I don’t know why some people lose more than they get but I do know that all the money in the world can’t buy His grace and mercy.
Please accept these Christmas gifts as a reminder that He loves you. I believe He had a hand in this and I am humbly grateful for the opportunity. More than soccer balls and baby dolls, accept our prayers in behalf of you and your family. God bless you. Merry Christmas.
John stared at the note and nearly forgot about the jar it was wrapped around. He picked it up off the floor and examined it. It looked like a small plastic jam jar that had been creatively decorated. It was covered in shiny red foil and had a Christmas star intricately formed from tiny silver beads. The words “Christmas Jar” were also written in tiny green beads. A beautiful silk bow was attached to the lid.
He opened the jar and found a roll of cash held in a rubber band. It barely fit in the jar and he struggled to get it out. After removing the band, he counted fifty one hundred dollar bills. The jar fell from his knee where it had balanced. Something inside rattled when it hit the floor. John picked it up and shook it over his upturned palm.
Into his palm fell a single 1958-dime.
*****
About the author:
Jason Wright is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USAToday bestselling author. He is also a political commentator and the co-founder of http://www.politicalderby.com, a popular website for political junkies.
Articles by Jason have appeared in over 50 newspapers and magazines across the United States including The Washington Times, The Chicago Tribune, and Forbes. He is the author of The James Miracle (2004); Christmas Jars (2005); The Wednesday Letters (2007); Recovering Charles (2008), Christmas Jars Reunion (2009); Penny's Christmas Jar Miracle (2009); The Cross Gardener (2010); The Seventeen Second Miracle (2010); and The Wedding Letters (2011).
Jason is also a popular speaker who speaks on the origin of the Christmas Jar movement, the Joy of Service, the lost art of letter writing and other topics. He has been seen on CNN, FoxNews, C-SPAN, and on local television affiliates around the country.
Jason is from Charlottesville, Virginia, but has also lived in Germany, Illinois, Brazil, Oregon and Utah. In 2007, while researching Virginia’s lush Shenandoah Valley for his novel The Wednesday Letters, Jason fell so in love with the area that he moved his family westward from northern Virginia into the heart of the Valley.
To learn more about the Christmas Jars tradition, visit: http://www.christmasjars.com
