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A Christmas Not Forgotten

The Christmas Miracle

By Love Writing A LattePublished 3 years ago 11 min read
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Let your mind take you to a place in time,

Where children played in the snow;

When joy and laughter filled the air,

And everyone’s filled with love’s glow!

Let me take you to...

The Christmas Not Forgotten

Crisp and cold are the winter winds,

Busy are the streets.

The children; however, can’t wait to get home,

And go straight to sleep!

Store windows are covered with frost,

Adult playing in the snow,

Laughter and singing fill their faces

And eyes full of a joyful glow.

While walking down the street,

On my way home,

My eyes and heart perceive,

Through the window of a nearby house,

A fully decorated Christmas tree.

The fireplace crackling with smoke seeping from the chimney,

With the alluring smell of freshly cut hickory.

An elderly man, about 70 or so,

Sitting in his rocking chair telling the stories of old.

Children gathered around staring in awe and wonder,

As the old man imitates Santa’s voice of thunder.

They see me staring, and welcome me in.

A steaming cup of apple cider, was given to me, with a hearty grin.

Silent Night and Joy to the World are being played on the piano, and everyone singing along,

The joyful old man with a pipe in his mouth

Proudly sings his part in baritone!

Time grew late, it quickly flies as always when you are having fun,

So I said “ So long and Merry Christmas, it’s time for me to run!

“ Can you tell us a bedtime story?” Was at one child’s request,

How could I say no, to such an adorable child

So I said, I’d give it my best!

“ T’was the night before Christmas” was the poem I read,

While on their pillows, sank their little heads.

A little boy with a Pillow Pet sheep,

Was the first one to fall fast asleep.

Soon they all fell asleep, or so I thought,

Until I heard “And Lord, bless the nice man,

Bless him with a lot!”

This was special,

So special indeed.

That a tear, though I tried to stop it, ran down my cheek.

“Whew” I said, as I finally made it home,

Seems it took forever,

I am suddenly overcome with emotion,

And I try to get it together.

Thinking of that family,

That wonderful, loving family!

They will forever be in my thoughts,

And this Christmas, will be marked as the one special Christmas that will never be forgotten!

The next morning I went to shovel snow

And much to my surprise,

The young lady from last night,

Was waiting for me outside.

“Well, this is a nice surprise,

Won’t you come in,

Have a cup of fresh coffee”,

I said with a grin.

There was something familiar about this woman,

So familiar, it was scary.

Have I met her before,

Other than that Christmas gathering?

“Thank you”, she said, “but I don’t want to be a bother,

I just wanted to stop by and tell you,

How much you reminded me of my brother

My brother and I were separated at age 10,,

Different families by adoption,

I apologize for coming to you,

With such an awkward situation.

Stunned and puzzled I had to sit down,

Here is a picture of us with our birth mother,

In an evening gown.

With glee, to my feet I jumped!

“I have that same picture!”

Could this in fact,

Be my Christmas miracle?

We hugged, we cried,

Until we looked on the picture’s back side,

These were the words inscribed..

“My beautiful, darling children,

My love for you was so overwhelming that I had to do what was best.

It was either to let you go to a better life,

Or keep you and watch you suffer through pain and mess.

(It continued…)

It is my prayer, to find you again someday,

And ask for your forgiveness,

For in your lives I want to stay.

If by chance I don’t find you,

At least promise me this,

That you try to find one another,

And big brother, hold your little sis.

Love, Mom

We cried some more and made a vow,

That we will find her,

Some way, somehow.

We owe it to ourselves, and we owe it to her,

To let her know, we love and forgive her.

So searched we did,

For weeks on end,

Until we ran across an old family friend.

Well, as I live and breathe,

The friend said to us,

Aren’t you Mary’s kids?.

Mary and Jim, I trust?

Yes we are, do you know where she is?

We are trying to find her,

If it be God’s will.

Well God bless you children,

Yes I do know where she lives,

Just go north, to the next town,

Just beyond that hill.

Nervous and excited we drove and drove fast,

To see our dear, sweet mother,

To see her at long last.

At the top of the hill we looked in amazement,

We saw a lady, hanging clothes on the clothes line,

Singing Oh, Amazing Grace.

We looked at our picture, and looked at her,

Tears again, ran like a faucet,

Joy grabbed our words!

“MOM” was the only word we could muster,

As we ran, full force to greet her!

She looked toward Heaven as if she saw God,

Fell to her knees, and praised God with her all!

With clean clothes now on the ground,

She ran toward us and cried,

“My babies”, she said “my babies are alive!”

We went inside and caught up on old and new times,

The atmosphere in our mother’s house,

Was welcoming, warm and sublime.

It was getting late, we didn’t want to go,

So, with joy in her eyes mom told us,

Leave tomorrow, stay tonight,

And with a smile said “and don’t say no.”

Snuggled in our beds,

It gave me joy to say

Good night Mom, goodnight Mary,

Thank you God for this day!

The next day was the most beautiful day,

As if everything had been made anew,

The trees so green, the flowers so vibrant,

And the grass glistened with morning dew.

We said goodbye to mom and went on our way,

She didn’t want to see us go,

So she gave us a huge hug,

Oh, we felt all of her love.

During the drive home,

I started the conversation,

“So who were the young ones from the other night?”

“Those are my children.”

“How cool that you have a son and daughter!

And the elderly man?”

Yes, that’s my dad, their grandfather.

“Wow! I’m an uncle! A nephew and a niece!

What are their names?”

With her chest slightly stuck out told me

“Victor and Denise.”

“So about our birth dad,

I wonder what was he like?”

She answered “Beats me. I know nothing about his life.”

“The next time we see mom,” I stated”we should ask her about dad.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea,

I mean, she might want to keep him in the past?”

“Well at least we’d know;

but maybe you’re right.”

The question pierced my mind,

Like a hot, sharp knife.

I made it home about 7 that night,

I tried to sleep, but it fought with all its might.

I tossed, I turned, thinking of the question,

Who and where is my dad?

Is he even alive?

I went to work the next morning,

The day dragged on and on,

When I thought it should be 4 o’clock,

It was just ten minutes to 1.

Time finally came for me to go home,

I quickly dashed out the door,

I could hardly wait to relieve my mind,

About the dad that had known us before.

So I gassed up the car and picked up my sister,

“If we’re going to do this,

I’d rather we do it together.”

So on we drove to mom’s house,

Who was busy trying to get a tea stain out of her white blouse.

“Hey Mom!” We said with unplanned excitement,

“Well hello my babies! What’s new?”

Actually, mom, there’s something we want to ask you.

“Okay. I’ll give my best answer.” She said with a grin,

“I finally got this dreadful stain out, please, won’t you come in.

“So, what’s on your mind?”

“In your mind Mom”, Mary said, “We need you to push rewind.”

“Who was our dad?”

“Take us to that time.”

“A fair enough question, and you have a right to know,

I knew this question would come up,

I was just waiting on you to say so.”

“Your father was a Major in the Army,

Here is his picture of him looking dapper,

With his Army buddy.”

“So what happened?

Was he killed in combat?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,

His General said he was killed by an enemy attack.”

“Here is the flag they gave to me,

Along with this medal for his bravery.

Kids, I was so proud of him then,

I pray the day we can be together again!”

“But Mom”, Martha said with a face of sadness and disappointment,

“Didn’t they say that dad was a casualty of war?

I hardly doubt even faith will travel that far.”

“Well my child”, mom said with a ray of hope in her eye,

Faith is a powerful gift from On High!

It will travel to heights unknown,

It will go through winds and it will go through storms,

To bring forth what you’re calling on!

To have faith in this life it is a must,

And my prayer every night is,

Lord, bring home my Lazarus.”

“How long has it been?” I asked holding back tears.

“Forever for me,” mom answered,” but it’s been about 12 years.”

Trying to make sense of the whole situation my sister asked,

“You don’t think enough time has passed?

Not trying to put a damper on your faith,

But shouldn’t you put that part of your life away?”

With a smile as only a loving mother can give,

Put her arm around my sister,

And said,” Here’s the deal.

I know circumstances dictate that he’s dead and gone,

But my faith lives on Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1.

They never brought him home,

And they never brought me his tag,

So, until I see evidence,

I’m going to keep praying until I see him at last...one way or another.”

Time went on,

Almost one year to the date,

We decided to have Christmas at our mom’s place.

She welcomed everyone in,

And it brought her joy to see,

Victor and Denise playing in the snow by the leafless pecan tree.

Everything was perfect,

The food smelled great,

Mom’s house was decorated with all Christmas décor,

And my dad’s favorite cake.

“Wow!” said the elderly man, “What kind of cake is that?”

“This was my husband’s favorite,

Triple Dutch German Chocolate.”

“Well it looks wonderful! Will he be joining us?”

Mom just smiled and replied, “Only God knows.”

Just then, mom excused herself and went in her room as she felt a pull,

“God, first let me thank you for my family being here,

For the first time in now 13 years,

My house is now full.

I can’t deny the fact Lord of your presents here in this room,

I’ve asked, and I’ve prayed to see my children again,

And you granted it, and removed all of my gloom!

And I just want to thank you for every prayer you’ve heard,

And for the blessed honor and privilege to stand on your Word.

Thank you for my new found family,

Thank you, for being mindful of me!

Amen-

After mom came back in the den,

Her grandkids ran up to her,

With an excited grin.

She played with them and they had a ball,

Afterwards she laughed and said “I love ya’ll!”

“We love you too, Granny!”

The food was almost done and everyone couldn’t wait,

To have some of Mom’s great cooking on their plate.

“Kids, would you mind helping me bring in some wood for the fireplace?”

We went without hesitation or resistance,

Getting the last of the wood, we see a green SUV in the distance.

“Wonder who that is?” I asked, as if I would even know who it might be.

“I don’t know.” mom replied “Not much traffic comes down this street.”

It stopped at the bottom of the hill and we heard a door close,

Coming up from the hill was a man in ratty war clothes.

His face was dirty and his pants torn,

His boots cover with mud and soles worn.

He walked with a limp but pushed his way,

Who would be coming like this on Christmas Day?

For some reason, I don’t know why,

I looked over at mom, I guess to see if she would give some sort of reply.

Her lips began to quiver,

Her eyes filled with tears,

Seemed as if her strength left her,

As she dropped to her knees.

As the man got closer,

His mouth wide open,

Tears ran down his face so fast,

It would be a lost cause to wipe them.

“Glory be! Glory be!,

God has brought him back to me!”

They ran to each other and hugged what seemed like forever,

I didn’t think I would see this in real life, ever.

After they composed themselves, only slightly,

“Honey, there’s some people I want you to meet.”

But before she introduced us, our natural affection for our father kicked in,

We were running toward the both of them!

“Oh my God! Oh my God! Jim!....Mary!” Dad said in such approval and unbelief,

He cried like a baby, and held us with a big squeeze.

So we went inside and he met the rest of the family,

We caught up, played games, and when we got ready to eat,

Dad held mom’s hand, blessed the food, and took his seat.

Afterwards, the whole family sat down and watched,

Miracle on 34th Street.

Such a befitting movie, for a befitting time,

This kind of Christmas don’t happen all the time.

Truly this Christmas will go down in history,

As the Christmas not forgotten,

Especially by me!

inspirational
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About the Creator

Love Writing A Latte

My name is Decedric Williams, and I am the owner and operator of Love Writing A Latte. What started out as just a dream, with a cup of coffee and a laptop, became reality! Let me help you tap into your creative side one sip at a time!

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