Precious last gift

My Dad Allen was a last minute shopper...he would pile all us kids into the truck on Dec. 24th and head down to the "mall" which was really a Sears store and a Home hardware.  We were all given $20 (wow, this was the early 80's!!) and Dad disappeared and we took off looking for treasures for our family members.  I have a very distinct memory of loading up my purchases onto the till and realizing I had forgotten DAD!  So I grabbed a skate key chain (a key chain with a little skate hanging off!) for him and my grand total was $19.51 or something.  I had enough for a pack of gum!  Gum was $.35 back then...good times!  Mom got a sweat band for her hair...or workout...I don't know.  I thought the twisted blue/white sparkly thing was pretty...hummm, Mom didn't wear it to church like I thought she would. Tina got a Monchichi (monkey with a pink bib, that you could stick it's thumb in it's mouth).  Troy probably got marbles or something else pretty awesome, at least $10 awesome in 1980.

Well, the year of 1983, Dad needed to take his furs into Thunder Bay, Ontario and decided to make a holiday of it with Mom for their anniversary.  Guess we finally got to have a sleepover somewhere...oh the fun!  They took the furs in and Dad wanted to shop for Christmas presents for all us kids.  He was very adamant about it.  He picked out a china doll for my sister, a hunting animal type rock thing for Troy (I think) and then demanded to purchase a Cabbage Patch Kid doll for me.  They were not actually out on the shelves for sale yet, so Dad gave the clerk a story and she let him into the back to pick out one.  (shhhh don't dare tell anyone!)    He thought the one with the red pig tails and green eyes looked like my Mom, so that was the one!  I've often thought that the clerk had no idea how God was using her to bless a little girl for the rest of her life...

If I find the picture of me opening this present that 1st Christmas without Dad, I'll post it.  My daughter Ruth is 8 years old, like I was.  "Loila Joy" even has her birth certificate!

So...you just never know when you should be following that still and quiet voice in your heart...perhaps you are meant to be a blessing to others!

How something so small could turn into something so precious for someone...that is truly a gift.