The Miracle of the Tree

There was once a young boy who met a lovely young dark-haired green eyed girl at the gates of Graceland. This young boy followed this gorgeous young lass to the land of ice and snow, Canada. Of course, they were wed and worked hard to make a life for themselves. The young man was restless and missed his home in the great state of Tennessee. Things had changed for them in that great land of Canada and they needed to change. The young man was homesick and his young lass perceived his heart ache and craved a bit of adventure for herself too, so she put forth the suggestion that they move back, back to the Tennessee hills where his heart lay. The young man had a hard time making the decision because he knew she was leaving her family behind just like he did. They made the move to the Gateway of the Smokey Mountains in the Tennessee hills. They built a wonderful log cabin that they call home.

During the time they were building their dream home, they had gotten to the point that money was short and there was none for luxuries such as a Christmas tree or even presents for each other this year but they had each other. They had to finish closing in the house because they were expected at her parents’ home in Canada for Christmas. They lacked one thing to completely close in the house so they could leave to go to Canada so the young man raced to the home improvement store in Knoxville, Tennessee and looked around to find this part he needed and he saw outside a stack of Christmas trees. He went over just to smell the fragrance of pine and he actually rubbed one of the trees and walked away to purchase the part he needed to close the house. As he wiped a tear from his cheek a clerk walked up to him and said “Sir, do you need a Christmas tree” and he told him “I would love to have one but I cannot afford one this year”. He said, “don't worry sir, we stopped selling them, if you would like to have one please pick out the one you want and I will help you load it on your truck”. He was astonished and even asked “are you sure” and he said “of course, they're just going to go in the dump if you don't take it”. He paid for the part he’d come for and he and the gentleman walked out to the truck and loaded the tree. He wished the clerk a Merry Christmas and he wished him the same. If the clerk had only known how much he had made his Christmas. No matter how much he thanked him, he could never know what it meant to him and that dark haired, green eyed girl from Canada.

He rushed home to close in the house and hurried to put up the Christmas tree before his wife could get home from her job. He searched through box after box after box in the basement, unable to find our Christmas tree stand and just as he was about to give up, low in behold, there it was laying on the floor. I guess he had knocked it out of one of the boxes and hadn’t noticed. Personally, I think it was divine intervention to find that Christmas tree stand on the floor where it shouldn't have been. He picked it up, climbed the ladder up to the second floor and I mounted the Christmas tree into the stand just as his wife walked through the back door, through the kitchen and into the great room. She said, “I thought we had agreed we could not afford a Christmas tree” and he told her that he had not purchased this tree. “This tree was given to us by a kind clerk at the home improvement store”. They both stood around that Christmas tree hugging each other and cried at the miracle that God had given them, the gift of this tree. Every time they’ve been down and out, God has sent them an angel to remind them of his love and his power.

I hope that your Christmas Angel is watching over you just as ours does for us. God bless you all, God bless you everyone and may you have the merriest Christmas you've ever had.