温馨夜读II PART2 3.The Giving Trees

[00:00.40]3.The Giving Trees [00:03.88]I was a single parent of four small children. [00:08.13]Money was always tight, but what we had, if not a lot, was always enough. [00:13.90]My kids told me that in those days they didn’t know we were poor. [00:18.15]It was Christmas time, and although there wasn’t money for a lot of gifts, we had our plans to celebrate. [00:24.79]The big excitement for the kids was the fun of Christmas shopping at the mall. [00:28.71]They talked and planned for weeks ahead of time, asking each other and their grandparents what they wanted for Christmas. [00:35.24]I dreaded it. I only saved $120 for all five of us. [00:41.78]The big day arrived and we started out early. [00:44.93]I gave each of the four kids a twenty dollar bill and reminded them to look for gifts about four dollars each. [00:51.90]Then everyone scattered. [00:53.87]We had two hours to shop; and then we would meet back at the “Santa’s workshop” display. [00:59.09]Back in the car driving home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits, [01:04.54]laughing and teasing each other with hints and clues about what they had bought. [01:09.55]My younger daughter, Ginger, who was about eight years old, was unusually quiet. [01:15.54]I noticed she had only one small, flat bag with her after her shopping spree. [01:21.52]I could see enough through the plastic bag to tell that she had bought candy bars — fifty-cent candy bars! [01:29.26]I was so angry. [01:31.54]What did you do with that twenty dollar bill I gave you? [01:34.81]I wanted to yell at her, but I didn’t say anything until we got home. [01:39.17]I called her into my bedroom and closed the door, ready to be angry again when I asked her what she had done with the money. [01:46.46]This is what she told me: [01:48.97]“I was looking around, thinking of what to buy, [01:53.54]and I stopped to read the little cards on one of the Salvation Army’s ‘Giving Trees.’ [01:58.33]One of the cards was for a little girl, four years old, [02:03.02]and all she wanted for Christmas was a doll with clothes and a hairbrush. [02:08.37]So I took the card off the tree and bought the doll and hairbrush for her and took it to the Salvation Army booth. [02:16.25]“I only had enough money left to buy candy bars for us,” Ginger continued. [02:21.60]“But we have so much and she doesn’t have anything.” [02:26.09]I never felt so rich as I did that day.

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