A Brother Like That

I love Christmas stories. I want to share one of my favorites every day until Christmas. This is one of my very favorites. It reminds me of two things: 1.) It is so important to think of others more than yourself and 2.) The Savior did for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

A Brother Like That

Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it.

"Is this your car, Mister?" he asked.

Paul nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Christmas."

The boy was astounded. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you nothing? Boy, I wish..." He hesitated. Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels.
"I wish," the boy went on, "that I could be a brother like that."

Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively he added, "Would you like to take a ride in my automobile?"

"Oh yes, I'd love that."

After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes aglow, said, "Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?" Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again.

"Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked. He ran up the steps. Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed to the car. "There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm gonna give you one just like it...then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about."

Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.

That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when he had said: "It is more blessed to give..."

Snow Day

School was cancelled today. See why?

Actually, I'm being sarcastic. We had freezing rain and sleet for several hours last night, so the roads are pretty slick (Or so I hear. I'm still sitting here in my jammies!). And we're suppose to get more of the same later today and tonight with some snow. The kids did a Snow Dance last night to channel a little luck from the Snow Gods. Apparently it worked!

Also, Drew's eye started getting puffy and red last night, so I knew pink eye was coming. When he came down the stairs, OH. MY. BARF-O-RAMA. You cannot even imagine the nastiness. I took a picture to email Edward at work, but I will definitely spare you the certain retching that would accompany your viewing of the photo. Ross, Elizabeth, and I all gagged upon viewing his eye. Mallory had this horrified look and kept repeating, "eye, eye, eye." When Drew looked at himself in the mirror, he immediately turned away because it scared him so badly.