Gifts of the Heart
自我隔離在家，又拾起了很多年前的愛好。給大家讀一個來自、心靈雞湯 的文章。文章版權歸洗靈雞湯
In this hustle-bustle world we live in, it’s so much easier to charge something on a credit card rather than give a gift of the heart.
“A week before Christmas, I asked myself, “What do I have that will make this Christmas special?” In all the houses we had lived in before the divorce, I had always made time to be the interior decorator. But in this rental house there was little time for decorating and a lot less money. Plus, I was angry about this ugly place, with its red and orange carpets and green walls. I refused to put money into it.
That night, I gave each of the children three pieces of stationery with envelopes. At the top of each page were the words, “What I love about my sister Mia,” “What I love about my brother Kris,” “What I love about my sister Lisa” and “What I love about my brother Erik.” The kids were 16, 14, 10 and 8, and it took some convincing on my part to assure them that they could find just one thing they liked about each other. As they wrote in privacy, I went to my bedroom and wrapped their few store-bought gifts.
When I returned to the kitchen, the children had finished their letters to one another. Each name was written on the outside of the envelope. We exchanged hugs and goodnight kisses and they hurried off to bed. Lisa was given special permission to sleep in my bed, with the promise not to pee until Christmas morning.”
I woke that morning with a bright whisper in my ear. “Wow, Mommy, it’s beautiful!”
Later, we all got up and sat around the tree and opened the few wrapped presents. Afterward the children were given their three envelopes. We read the words with teary eyes and red noses. Then we got to “the baby of the family’s” notes. Erik, at 8, wasn’t expecting to hear anything nice. His brother had written “What I love about my brother Erik is that he’s not afraid of anything.” Mia had written, “What I love about my brother Erik is he can talk to anybody!” Lisa had written, “What I love about my brother Erik is he can climb trees higher than anyone!”
I felt a gentle tug at my sleeve, then a small hand cupped around my ear and Eric whispered, “Gee, Mom, I didn’t even know they liked me!”
In the worst of times, creativity had given us the best of times. I’m now back on my feet financially, and we’ve had many “big” Christmases with lots of presents under the tree . . . but when asked which Christmas is our favourite, we all remember that one.”
New words and expressions
· In this hustle-bustle world we live in 喧鬧的世界
· I refused to put money into it.花錢在上面
· As they wrote in privacy 各自私下寫
· They hurried off to bed. 訊速上床睡覺
· We read the words with teary eyes and red noses.溼潤的眼眶和泛紅的鼻子
· I’m now back on my feet financially. 經濟狀況好轉
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