A Story....
very shortened..
The Christmas Orange
Once there was a little girl who came to live in an orphanage in Denmark. As Christmas time grew near,
all of the other children began telling the little girl about the beautiful Christmas tree that would appear
in the huge downstairs hall on Christmas morning. After their usual, very plain breakfast, each child would
be given their one and only Christmas gift; small, single orange.
Now the headmaster of the orphanage was very stern and he thought Christmas to be a bother. So on
Christmas Eve, when he caught the little girl creeping down the stairs to catch a peek at the much-heard-
of Christmas tree, he sharply declared that the little girl would not receive her Christmas orange because
she had been so curious as to disobey the rules. The little girl ran back to her room broken-
hearted and crying at her terrible fate.
The next morning as the other children were going down to breakfast, the little girl stayed in her bed.
She couldn't stand the thought of seeing the others receive their gift when there would be none for her.
Later, as the children came back upstairs, the little girl was surprised to be handed a napkin. As she
carefully opened it, there to her disbelief was an orange all peeled and sectioned.
"How could this be?" she asked.
It was then that she found how each child had taken one section from their orange
and given it to her so that she, too, would have a Christmas orange.
I had a charity Party this year...I love Christmas parties..and thought this year I would do it a bit different.... Our ward did a service project for the Tumbleweed program, which offers a home and necessities, schooling and jobs, counseling ect to homeless children ages 12-17..and also children slipping through he cracks of CPS....
So anyway I decided to have a dinner party and the guests would bring not gifts for us, or our family, or an elephant gift, but donations for this organization.. I was amazed by all of the donations.. A lot of people could not come, but offered donations anyway. We had 2 yummy soups, lots of dessert, hot cocoa and a bon fire.. Lots of fun!
Anyway along with the story above.. here is what we gathered in the 1 night:
2 soccer balls
2 footballs
1 basketball
48 candy gift tags
2 hooded sweaters
65 pairs of socks
25 pairs of gloves
6 scarves
3 sweaters
1 sweatpants
9 hats
16 shirts
2 board games
30 pairs of underwear
18 deodorants
7 body wash
3 body spray
3 nail polish
39 chap stick & lip gloss
3 packs of hair bands
6 toothbrushes
1 toothpaste
$60 gift cards for Subway
6 movie passes
WOW right?? anyway I wanted to post this because a lot of people left before we tallied the donations..and also to show you that in no way could I have bought all of these items. that would Im sure be as much as our mortgage payment! .. but I wanted to contribute...so as we all donated a little as it is all combined it is a ton!!!
AND..the best family and friends ever......
meaning THANK YOU!!! to all who came, donated and helped with this..It was so fun and such a great experience!!! I know these kids will appreciate this so much!!
Merry Christmas..and remember its not about getting presents... or even buying them... its about doing what you can..in service and living as Christ would...
1 comment:
That's so neat, Teri! Great job!
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