The Christmas Gift

This is a real event. A memory of a day I loved, about this time last year. Dedicated to Dani, Logan and David.

Come the winter and its snows

I don’t fear how winter goes -

Because I have the best, you see…

The love of friends and family.

~Dawn Allynn

I watched them frolic in the snow from the warmth of my car.

The sled was new, made from some lightweight foam, colorful, stylish. Faster than a speeding bullet, and probably no safer. I worry sometimes, but try not to let it absorb me. I learned early to let go and keep my fears to myself. Independence is good for children, and mine certainly thrive well in its environment. Today, however, my mind was less on the possibilities of my kids becoming one with a pine tree and more on the miracle of seeing them together with their sister.

Seventeen years we’d thought about her, and wondered where she was. Beyond our reach but never beyond our prayers. We’d never given up hoping she’d come into our lives one day, and here she was. Now, just the second day after meeting her for the first time, here they were, sledding and playing together as if they’d never spent a day of their lives away from one another.

For hours I watched them play together. Even in the cold snow, their warm love was evident. This was her first time meeting us. Her first time ever seeing snow, making a snow angel, her first time sledding.

But not her last.

This winter holiday brought us all a gift that we'd cherish a lifetime.