Monday, December 30, 2013

Our Own Christmas Miracle


Those of you who read my blog regularly know about my mom breaking her ankle at the beginning of December. Because I do not currently have a job and I am still working on getting my license, we basically have no income other than Workman's Comp, which only pays her enough for rent and one other bill (downside to serving, I guess.) I was really worried about Christmas for my little brother. Obviously, we have family that got him a few things, but he still believes in Santa, and if presents weren't under that tree, his Christmas would basically be ruined. I had already given up on receiving anything myself other than a few things from my grandparents; I knew how strapped we were and even my savings had been drained to help keep the water on and food in the pantry. But for my bother, it was a big deal, and I was heartbroken to think of what his face would look like when there were no presents from Santa under the tree. But something truly miraculous happened, something that you hear about but never in a million years think would happen to you.


One of my mom's friends had been bringing my brother to school in the mornings to help us out. At one point, she asked him if he was excited about Christmas, and he responded with, "Yeah... I'm glad I'm on Santa's nice list this year, my mom isn't going to be able to get me any presents because we don't have any money." My mom's friend, who had been in a similar position the year before, immediately began tearing up. She told some of her friends about it and they began to rally together, and she spoke to one of the local boutiques, and THEY put out a Facebook post calling for gifts, and another of my mom's friends had a friend who wanted to adopt a family for Christmas and they chose us. We had NO IDEA until my mom's friends called and said they had presents to drop off. And even then, we had no idea of the scale of things.


My brother and I went from having two or three presents under the tree to having fifteen to twenty each under there. There were even a few things for my mom, one of which was money collected to help us out. I was blown away and in tears as I piled everything beneath our tree (which was also given to us for free.) I am very thankful for everything that was done. And the look on Ethan's face in the morning was so priceless and full of pure joy that I couldn't help but start crying. I had been so worried, and people in our community, friends and strangers alike, had selflessly made this Christmas far beyond what we could have hoped for. If all goes well and we are in a stable financial place next holiday season, mom and I have already talked about giving back to the community or adopting a family ourselves next year.


I was lucky enough to have three whole rounds of Christmas celebrations. The first of which was here with mom and our amazing miracle holiday. My gifts included many beautiful new shirts and dresses, an infinite number of nail polishes (all of which were miraculously different colors and all different from anything in my current collection,) other makeup goodies, chocolates, and a cute memo board (which is already coming in handy.)
Round two was the day after Christmas, when I went over to my dad's house for a couple of hours to see him and my brother and sister. The gift he got me was put on back order, but I asked him not to tell me what it was so that it would be a surprise. My grandparents on his side got me a fisheye lens (see above; I think I'll call him Mr. Fishy,) a 5-tone reflector for photography, and some other camera accessories. And my Aunt Sylvia gave her traditional ornament gift, which is so cozy and cute and it's just something that I look forward to every year. The four of us went for a walk/bike ride and then we watched Despicable Me 2.
Round three was this past Saturday at Joe's house, where I ended up having my official "Christmas Dinner" of the year with some amazing prime rib. His mom got me THE SOFTEST bathrobe in the history of soft bathrobes, which I put on immediately and wore for the rest of the evening. Joe himself got me two new charms for the bracelet he bought me for our 2 year anniversary, a new necklace, and two new shirts. We then watched Despicable Me 2 (I honestly didn't mind watching it again) and then took a 4-hour nap.

I'd like to think that after a bout of bad luck and some icky situations, my family and I had a pretty dang good Christmas. I'd love to hear about all of your Christmases, sound off in the comments!!! Any fun plans over the holidays?

~♥
Gabby

All images are mine, and watermarked images are property of my business, Whispered Wishes Photography. Feel free to use the watermarked photos, but please do not alter the images or remove/crop out the watermark. Thank you very much! ♥

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