We were adopted by an elementary school in Richland to be the recipient of a boatload of Christmas cheer! It was so much fun! I stopped by the Cancer Center - who coordinated it - and got to pick up the goodies. I just bawled. This was so nice!
We got home and laid the gifts under the tree. So amazing! Some packages - they told us so - were wrapped by the younger children in the school. They were precious. We had to laugh at a box labelled "Dog." Inside were packages for both our dogs and kitties! Someone had been very, very aware of all the details of our family! I had specifically mentioned on the idea sheet that they should just do one gift per person, but they obviously got carried away.
Carried away .... but overlooked one child. There was nary a gift with his name on it. I checked twice. I checked my copy of the idea sheet. Hmmmmm. How awkward is that? We were so grateful for the gifts. But, maybe one bag had been overlooked? A few days later I got braave and called the contact at the cancer center. I used Heather's "Sandwich" method - thanked her profusely, stated the problem, was there a missing bag? Laughed about it and thanked her again. She was so apologetic! She reviewed the facts. Reviewed the idea sheet and the school's list and realized that this child's name had indeed been overlooked. Oh, no. I had hoped that there was just a leftover bag lying around...
She offered to get him some gifts herself. I told her that we already had some things we'd purchased... So awkward. So awkward! What made this situation laughable, though, was that if Santa was planning to leave coal in Anyone's stocking..... this child's is the one that would contain that black lump! How did they know? Maybe it was meant to be...
This child has always been a difficult one at birthdays and Christmases. Some brain wiring must be short-circuited because he gets angry and throws a fit on each occasion! Knowing that he was going to be short this year had me nervous. I gave him a few extra things and held my breath. But, come Christmas morning he was fine. No temper, no nasty comments under his breath.. He was okay with everything. Wow! Cheers! I told him how impressed I was. He just smiled. Two days later, I'm still amazed at this turn of events! Maybe Santa dropped off a new boy and made an exchange?
