"FROM SHARON'S HEART"
POETRY WRITTEN BY:
~SHARON JEAN BRYANT~

~SPECIAL DAYS~
~CHRISTMAS~
 
 

It was the week before Christmas, 1986. I was a divorced mom raising two small children alone without any child support 
or help from my ex-husband.  Rough times had hit that year.  I was laid off from job in November and I knew there wasn't 
going to be much, if anything for Christmas.  I remember the night I sat the kids down on the couch and told them Santa wasn't coming that year.  They were shocked. 

"Why, mom?  Why can't Santa come this year?" asked my daughter Amy, age 7.  I didn't know what to say.  I told her and her brother that Santa was having trouble finding everyone that year, and just to be ready in case he didn't show up.  Both kids hung their heads down and I saw a tear trickle down my daughter's cheek as she looked up at me and said, "Mom, Santa LOVES kids, he always comes!" 

I didn't have a tree, nor did I have money to buy a tree that year.  I didn't want ANYONE to know how rough it was, so I 
avoided my family and friends.  I felt horrible. 

I remember it was December 20th when my phone rang.  I answered "Hello" to hear a voice say, "This is the North Pole and we have a message from Santa for you."  I slammed the phone down.   I wasn't in any mood for prank calls that year.   The phone rang again and this time the voice said, "Please don't hang up on me, this IS the North Pole and we have a message for you, aren't you the mother of Amy and Randy?"  Shocked, I said, "Who is this?"  "Santa does not allow us to tell our names, but he wants you to have this message........be at Bud's T.V. at 12:00 noon on December 22."  I said, "What for?"  They replied, "Just be there and come alone, leave the children home."   They wished me a Merry Christmas and hung up. 

I didn't understand what was going on, nor whose voice had just called, and I decided to forget it.  Besides, I didn't have a 
baby-sitter, nor could I afford one had I had one.  After the kids were in bed that night, I went to my closet where all the ornaments sat in boxes from Christmas in the past.  There was no need to get them out.   I went to bed that night, crying into my pillow wondering what I was going to fix for dinner on Christmas.  My part time job didn't offer enough to buy a ham or a turkey.  Peanut butter sandwiches was about the best I could do.  I thought about my past and how the divorce had taken so much of my life, my income, and my future.  I thought about a court system that seemed unfair to allow a husband to not pay child support.  I fell asleep crying that night, praying to God to show me how to be strong and to somehow pull off Christmas morning without any gifts. 

The kids and I were home the next day, they were watching a t.v. show, I was trying to figure out what veggies I had in the 
house to use for dinner on Christmas when the doorbell rang.  I went to the door, the kids behind me to see a tree standing 
there in front of my storm door.  Just a tree, no hands attached to it, and it filled the whole doorway so I couldn't see around it.  I remember Amy squealed, "Mom, we GOT a Christmas tree."  Both kids jumped up and down, happily clapping.  I grabbed the tree and the kids and I pulled it into the house. 
There was no one there.  No car in my drive way. No tracks in the snow.   To this day, I have no idea how that tree got on 
my front porch.  Nor how anyone could have removed themselves so fast.  Nor did I ever find out HOW they got it there without a vehicle to haul it in.  I can't begin to tell you of the joy that tree brought that year.  The excitement as the kids hung ornament after ornament on that beautiful tree.  The kids were so wrapped up in their happiness and I sat and watched smiling but wondering WHO brought the tree? 

The next day was December 22.  I remember it well.  At 12:30 P.M. my phone rang.  "This is the North Pole Sharon, and you didn't come to Bud's t.v."   I remember telling them I just didn't feel up to it.  Again the voice said, "Sharon PLEASE come to Bud's t.v., Santa is waiting for you."  I told her I didn't have a sitter for the kids, that we lived alone.  She told me that was ok, Santa was going to take care of it.  I drove the 4 miles to Bud's t.v.  The kids were in the back seat of the truck.  When I pulled into Bud's parking lot, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  I wondered if this was a prank and was I fool enough to fall for it.  I sat in the truck when an ELF came to the door and motioned me inside.  The kids stayed in the truck and I entered the t.v. shop.  The ELF put her fingers to her lips and said, "Santa knows you've been having some rough times this year, so he asked us to give you a hand."  She motioned me to follow her into another room, where my eyes about bulged out of my head.  There, boxes were stacked, filled with clothes, shoes, coats, hats, mittens, boots, and toys.  I started to cry.  I couldn't stop.  I said, "Who did this?  Who knew?"  She hugged me and said, "Oh, that's not all Santa has for you, and more box loads were slid towards me filled with a canned ham, a turkey, lunch meats, bread, canned veggies, fresh fruit, everything.  I didn't know what to do but cry.  I remember when I went out the door, I told her, "One day I WILL find out who did this, and I vow right now, that some day, some way, I will repay you for what you have done for my kids."  She hugged me and said, "Paid in full for what YOU have done for others in your life." 

She told me to go back home and get the kids occupied, that they would deliver the boxes to my house later that evening. 
And they did.  It was a happy mom that year later that night who wrapped gifts in newspaper because I didn't have any wrapping paper.  It was a happy mom who was astonished that the clothes were the right sizes, even the shoes and boots.  I can't begin to tell you what that Christmas morning meant to me as I watched my children open gifts.  And I will never 
forget what Amy said when she looked at me saying, "See Mom, I TOLD you Santa wouldn't forget us!" 

I found out that someone from THE GOODFELLOWS of Detroit, Michigan found out that I was in financial trouble, and they are the ones who stepped in and gave my kids a Christmas.  To this day, I still never figured out how they got that big tree on my porch and vanished so quickly not leaving a trace of a truck track in the snow.  A miracle?  Sometimes I still wonder.  I kept my promise.  I became involved very strongly with Goodfellows the next year.  And it was me, who made that same phone call to another mom the next Christmas telling her I was from the North Pole.  It was me who saw a mom fall apart and tears slide down her face trying to thank me for what we were doing.  And it was me who worked with Goodfellows for the next five years until I moved here to Alabama.  They don't do the program here, but I wish they would.  For I shall never forget a Christmas an ELF showed me the true meaning of Christmas. 

This is why I do the things I do today.  This is one of the reasons I want to give to others.  I still can't afford to do it alone so I have to ask folks for help on the Angels Remembered program.  But I will tell you this, for everyone that offers a hand, for everyone who thinks of  a child who is facing an illness, a tragedy, or even death.........you are blessed.  And I am blessed that our paths have crossed. 

I hope no one ever has to have a Christmas like I did that year in 1986.  But if you do, may you find a magical ELF that makes a phone call to your home.  May you find the true meaning of Christmas as I did.  God Bless you All, I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas this year And to all of you are helping me with Angels Remembered, I don't want you to see the tears.......but may it help you to know that in my heart, I love you all. 

~I'LL REMEMBER~

~A CHRISTMAS WISH~

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