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Personal Experiences
OPEN HOUSE
Christmas day can be a very unhappy time for those who are alone. Even though many people are thoughtful enough to include others in gatherings later in the day, the most difficult time to get through-Christmas morning-is often overlooked. Since I lost my husband four years ago and have no children, I know how lonely Christmas morning can be.
Last year and for several years, a very special couple I know have been opening their home and hearts to folks who face being alone on Christmas morning. My best Christmas gift is their open invitation to join them and the others they find out about. They build a fire in the fireplace and serve pancakes and sausage at 8:00 a.m.
They start off what can be a lonely day with a warm and friendly beginning. They give much more than breakfast.
Blanche Buchter
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
MEALTIME SHARING
A very special Christmas gift was given by the congregation of a neighboring parish of the one to which I belong. Each family of the parish was asked to pick up a box near the back of the church following the morning service. They were to place the box on their dining room table during the Advent season. Each day during their meals, they were to place an item of canned food in the box.
The filled boxes were returned to church on Christmas eve morning, and placed on the altar, along with some new warm blankets given by other parish members. What a sight to behold!
I understand that it took fifty vans to deliver these gifts to St. Patrick's, an inner-city parish known to the needy as a place where they can get help. Nearly 2,500 families seek food there each winter.
Andrea M. Mertz
Webster Groves, Missouri
HOUSE GIFT IN Nicaragua
Habitat for Humanity, Inc. is a non-profit organization that builds houses to provide shelter for the homeless and needy. Since his retirement, my father has been volunteering on these house- building projects in his area.
As their Christmas gift to me, my sister and our families, my parents donated, in our names, to Habitat for Humanity enough money to enable this organization to build a house in Nicaragua. There is nothing that could have been done for me that could have better shown my parents caring and love.
Karen Weidenbeimer
Carson, California
CABLE SYSTEM AND TIME
In February of 1980, I came to Jonesboro, Georgia to live. Even though I was 54 years old, I immediately got involved with the Singles Department and Adult Choir at the First Baptist Church.
Two years ago, I became ill and could not work anymore, but continued my church activities as long as possible. I spent several weeks in the hospital early in 1985. A small part of my problem was taken care of with surgery, but because of my scoliosis there seems to be no help for the constant pain. I walk very little and only with the help of a cane. Even my sitting time is limited.
Two days before our 1985 Christmas musical was to be televised, I had a phone call from a women I had never heard of. She told me that the Married Couple's Sunday School Class wanted to have* a cable system installed so that I could see our Christmas program and our weekly Sunday morning service.
Needless to say, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It has been a wonderful relationship. I have met most of the class members, some of which call and visit often, offering to help with many things I can't do anymore.
This wasn't just a Christmas gift. It's an everyday gift, as they continue to give themselves.
Louise Durbin
Jonesboro, Georgia
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Page updated 22 October 2012
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