I remember this Christmas very well because in the summer someone stole my bicycle. Now you might say to yourself what does a stolen bicycle in summer have to do with Christmas Eve at Grandmas? Well after my bike was stolen I was really dejected. When you are ten years old your bike is your main transportation to anything away from home, even if it was just next door. On this particular day my Mom (Loretta) was doing work at the Altar Society and asked me to stop by to help her take some measurements (hold the tape measure basically). Well I stopped in, held the tape measure, then went outside the Church to find someone had stolen my bike…from a Church.

Needless to say my faith in humanity was gone and even my faith in God was in question. How could God let someone steal my bike while I was inside the Church helping his altar get the right measurements?

Well God works in mysterious ways, I got a phone call that evening from Grandma who said she was sorry to hear about my bike and wanted to buy me a new one. I was really surprised since I knew they lived on a fixed income pension and could not really afford to spend too much extra on things, but yet they were willing to spend what money they did have on me to get a new bike. I thanked her very much but said I was ok without the bike but that I really appreciated the offer…and I did.

I was so touched by her offer that the pain of the bike was completely gone and I hoped that someday I would be like her. Up until now as a ten year old I was very selfish and my allowance went to baseball cards, candy, and pop. That changed that summer as I actually saved up my allowance to get Grandma something really nice for Christmas. I think it was the first time I actually bought a gift for someone that was out of my own money and when I gave it to Grandma I felt great, much better than I felt receiving a gift.

This was also the last time I would see my grandma as she died in spring of the next year, but she passed along a huge lesson in humanity to a very selfish ten year old boy (probably not the easiest thing to do).