To Love, Honor and Cherish

by Timothy Paterson

  Chapter 7

  On the second Saturday in December, Joe told the kids that he had a special day planned for them. Betty had taken Friday night off, so she would be with her family on Saturday.

  After breakfast, everybody piled into the family van and headed to Northern California. Only Joe and Betty knew where they were headed. The kids were told to bring a sweater and a jacket, because they might get cold where they were going. As Joe drove, everybody sang Christmas songs, and everybody was in such high spirits laughing and singing that the three-hour trip seemed like no time at all.

  It was almost ten o’clock when they arrived at their destination. As the kids looked around, they realized they were at a Christmas tree farm. Joe informed them that they were going to cut down their own tree, take it back to the house, and decorate it.

  Betty stayed at the store with John and Paul, while Matt, Mary, Mark and Luke climbed up onto a wagon with Joe, and headed out to the area where the trees were. Once there, Joe told Mary that she could pick out any tree that she wanted.

  As they walked around, looking at the trees, the kids were very excited. In past years, they had always purchased their tree from a tree lot in town. As they walked, they came across patches of snow that had not melted. They did not have snow in San Francisco, so they threw snowballs at each other and even hit Joe with a couple of them.

  Mary must have looked at over a hundred trees before she found the perfect tree. It was a seven-foot tall Douglas fir tree. Joe and Mary’s brothers all agreed with her that the tree was the perfect Christmas tree. Joe and Matt cut down the tree with a saw and helped load it onto the wagon.

  When they got back to the store, the tree was wrapped and tied onto the top of the van. Everybody had hot chocolate and cookies. When they had finished eating, they all went on an old-fashioned sleigh ride. Betty saw her children laughing and smiling and it made her feel warm inside. Silently, she thanked God, once again for bringing Joe into their lives.

  It was after one o’clock in the afternoon when they started for home. When they were halfway home, they stopped at a rest area to eat the delicious lunch that Betty had prepared.

  By the time they finally arrived home, it was five o’clock. Joe and Matt put the tree in a bucket of water to soak up water before they put it the tree stand. Then, with help from Mary and Matt, Joe got several boxes from a room in the basement. The boxes were filled with Christmas decorations. They took the boxes upstairs to the family room.

  When Joe opened the first box and saw the decorations, he was suddenly overcome with sadness. This was the first Christmas since his parents had died. As Joe sat there, overcome with emotion, a tear rolled down his cheek. When Mary asked him what was wrong, Joe told them that he and his parents had such good times around the holidays and had loved Christmas and that he really missed them.

  Mary gave Joe a big hug and told him “We’re your family now, Joe”. Joe could not hold back his emotions any longer. The tears started flowing. Joe was sad and missed his parents, but at the same time, he was happy to be part of the Rogers family.As the rest of the family hugged Joe, the tears turned to smiles and Joe felt good inside. Joe knew that everything was going to be just fine.

  Joe and his new family began to decorate the entire house and when they were finished, everything looked beautiful and magical. After a late dinner, everyone went to bed full of excitement.

  After they returned from church the next morning, they changed clothes and prepared to decorate the Christmas tree. Joe and Matt put the tree in the stand in the family room, which had a nine-foot ceiling.

  Joe put the lights on the tree and then the children started putting the ornaments on the tree. There was a huge assortment of them, from glass and crystal, to homemade ones that Joe had made when he was younger. As the kids hung the homemade ornaments, Joe told them when he had made them and memories associated with them.

  Mary and Betty had strung popcorn on thread and they placed the strings of popcorn on the branches of the tree. Matt and Mark hung candy canes on the branches.

  When they had finished decorating the tree, Joe opened a small box and carefully took out a beautiful angel ornament. Joe’s parents had bought it for his first Christmas and it was always the last thing to be put on the tree. Joe handed the ornament to Paul and lifted him up. Paul, carefully placed the angel on the very top of the tree.

  Joe then turned out the lights and threw the switch that controlled the Christmas lights. The tree lit up the entire room. Everybody was silent for a moment, taking in the splendor of the tree. It was the most beautiful tree that Joe had ever seen. The Rogers family agreed with him. They sang “Oh Christmas Tree” as well as several more Christmas carols.

  As Christmas grew closer, the younger children were trying to be as good as they could, so that Santa would bring them presents. Joe gathered the children together one day while their mother was out of the house and suggested that they each make a special present for their mother for Christmas. He told them to put a lot of thought into their present, using their talents. Joe told them that he would help them in any way he could, but that the idea had to come from them.

  Over the next week or so, there was a lot of secrecy going on throughout the house. Each of the children was busy working on their present. The house was full of laughter, giggles and whispers. Everything was perfect, until one day when Mark became very angry at something he had overheard.

  One afternoon, Mary and Matt were talking and Matt said how stupid it was to believe in Santa. Mark overheard him say that and became very upset. He was hurt and confused. He did not know what to believe anymore. When Joe asked him why he was so upset, Mark told Joe what he had overheard Matt say. He asked Joe if Santa was real. Joe looked at him and told him that Santa was magic and that if he believed, really believed in Santa, he would not be disappointed on Christmas morning.

  That night, Joe came up with a plan to make this a terrific Christmas for the entire family, one that they would always remember. Joe had already bought special gifts for each of the children as well as Betty. Now, he started to make many secret phone calls to people who would help him carry out his plan.

  Mary and Matt were busier that the others, as they had final exams to take before the winter break. They were both glad when their tests were finally over.

  Soon, it was just four days until Christmas. As everyone was putting the finishing touches on their gifts for their mother, Joe was finalizing the last details of his surprise. Betty had picked up a special surprise for Joe, from a studio downtown. One day while Joe was out, Betty took the children to a photography studio to help make the special surprise.

  Christmas Eve finally arrived. That afternoon, Joe escorted Betty to a chair in the family room and told her that the children each had made special gifts for her.

  Paul and John were first. They presented their mom with a box wrapped in paper that they had decorated themselves. Betty opened the box and saw several Christmas cookies.

  She tasted one and said it was delicious. “We made them all by ourselves,” said John, “Joe super-sized us while we were making them” Betty had a puzzled look on her face and then Joe said “I supervised you, not super-sized you.” Everybody laughed, including John.

  Betty hugged John and Paul and thanked them for their present.

  Luke was next. Joe helped him bring a large cardboard box into the room. The box had been turned into a puppet theater. Luke got inside it and using sock puppets that he had made, he put on a puppet show titled ‘Santa Goes on a Diet.’ Everyone thought it was very funny. Paul was rolling on the floor laughing. Betty laughed so hard that she had tears in her eyes.

  Next was Mark’s turn. He gave Betty a homemade booklet filled with poems that he had written. He read a couple of them aloud and everybody clapped really loud.

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bsp; Matt handed his mother her present. When Betty opened the box, she found a twenty-page story that Matt had written, titled ‘The Best Gift of All.’. It was a story about the Rogers family and how their mother was the greatest gift that Matt could ever want. He had typed it up on the computer and did the art work on the cover himself, as well as the illustrations. As Betty finished reading the story, she hugged Matt and told him that she would treasure it always.

  For Mary’s gift, Joe led everyone to the basement to where the big screen television was. After everyone was seated, Mary put a videotape in the VCR and started the tape. Joe had helped Mary with her gift, by being her camera operator for her first video. As everyone watched the screen, they saw Mary sing several Christmas songs in different locations.

  She sang ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ at the zoo with reindeer in the background. She sang ‘Jingle Bells’ while sitting in a ‘one horse open sleigh’. She sang ‘The Christmas Song’ in front of a crackling fire with chestnuts roasting. She sang ‘What Child is this?’ near the church’s Nativity Scene. Matt was dressed like a drummer boy and played a drum while Mary sang ‘The Little Drummer Boy’. Her final song on the video was ‘Silent Night’ and she performed it at night, outside, with the sky filled with bright stars on a clear night. Mary had such a beautiful voice, that it filled everyone in the room with the spirit of Christmas.

  Matt told Mary that she had a beautiful voice.

  After the video was over, Betty looked at all of her children and told them that it was the best Christmas she had ever had, because all of their gifts came from their hearts and represented the true meaning of Christmas. She hugged all of them and then looked at Joe and said “Thank you”.

  That evening, as the family entered the church for the Christmas Eve service, they were all filled with love and compassion. It was a beautiful service and when it was over, they sang Christmas carols all the way home.

  When they arrived home, everybody changed into their pajamas. They gathered in the family room as Joe read the Christmas story from the bible. Then the kids begged Joe to read ‘The Night before Christmas’. When he was finished, they hung their stockings by the fireplace, which did not have a fire in it (Paul and John were afraid that Santa might be burned in the fire). The last thing they did before they went to bed was to put out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa, and some carrots for his reindeer.

  After the children had gone to bed, Betty thanked Joe for the best Christmas that she and her children had ever had. Joe replied, “It’s not over yet. The best is yet to come.” Joe explained his plan to Betty and told her to go along with it, and the kids would have an experience of a lifetime.