A true Christmas story

 From Jerry Heath. Heath from Idaho Falls, son of my second cousin:

It was the worst of Christmases! It turned out to be the best of Christmases!

It was Christmas of 1982. We had made the decision, as we often did, to go back to California, and visit our families there. Actually, our kids had four sets of grandparents, all of them living in California, so our annual 15 hour, 900 mile Christmas drive to the Bay Area made sense. Our children were 7, 6, 3, and 1, and Byron, the caboose, was on the way.

For reasons that have now faded into the murk of time, we weren’t going to actually be able to leave until Christmas Day. We were broke, as usual, but our families had told us to just come, and they would supply presents for the kids. Bringing their grandchildren to them would be our “present”.

Our transportation was to be our old green Volkswagen bus, “The Pickle Van”, an antique, which we had picked up from the repair shop the day before. Our present generation would probably be horrified to know that there were no seatbelts or car seats for the kids. They would simply move about and play free and unencumbered through the whole trip. They had done it many times before, and although it was less safe than today’s extra safety, it also made for happier children while traveling.

Christmas Day that year was brutally cold, below zero, windy and icy. Happily, none of the kids knew it was Christmas Day. It was a ‘drive to see the families’ day. We were worried about the roads through Idaho, down to Nevada, and eventually the dreaded Donner Pass between Reno and Sacramento. Still we were ready, got the bus packed, and just as we were about to head out, a catastrophe! Neither of us could find our key for the vehicle.

Now, keep in mind, the bus had been in the shop, so at least one of our keys was detached for that reason. Why both would have been is a mystery. Still, misplacing a key, or two, is a common enough event. Surely one or the other would turn up.

They didn’t! We searched everywhere, including digging through the deep snow by the bus, just in case it had been dropped there. We looked frantically, desperately for hours. Sadly, we were ready in every way, other than in our ability to start the bus. “A key! A key! My kingdom for a key!” We had another vehicle, an old red Pinto Wagon, but even if we could fit, it was in no shape to make a long trip in bad weather. Eventually, we had to concede defeat. We called our families with the humiliating news that we weren’t coming because…we had lost our keys. Those were hard conversations!

A disaster, right? An embarrassing disaster! But Christmas has a way of providing its own little miracles! You can’t always see the blessings coming behind the pain. Also, over the years, I’ve come to believe that the old chestnut, “things happen for a reason” is probably, maybe, usually true.

As a bleak morning ended, and a dismal afternoon began, we received a telephone call from some new acquaintances, wishing us a Merry Christmas. We weren’t exactly friends with Tom and Valerie Morley, but he was a fellow newly hired principal in the Blackfoot school district, and his wife, like Betty, was a stay-at-home mom. We shared the stress of new high pressure jobs, and of parenting toddlers, but we hardly knew each other. It was Betty who answered the phone, and somehow her distress leaked into the conversation with Val, and Betty explained what had happened.

A short time later the Morley’s called back and invited us to their house for Christmas dinner. We said no. We were in no mood for celebrating, or for interacting with other people! We just wanted to marinate in our misery. But Tom and Valerie were persistent. They called again. Again, we begged off. Then, a few minutes later, they called again. They were persistent! Bless them!

Actually, Betty and I were barely speaking to each other at this point, but she sought me out, and told me that if I still didn’t want to accept their invitation, I should call back and tell them myself. Neither of us wanted to be rude, and we had no other excuses, so we resignedly packed up the kids and went to visit the Morley family.

It was one of the nicest Christmases of our lives!

Details of the evening escape me, but the long term results speak for themselves. We celebrated many, many holidays, and other great times with the Morley’s, as our children grew up together like cousins, over the next decades. Their families lived far away in the east, as ours lived far to the west, so it was natural to become like family. They were/are kind, intelligent, wonderful people, and they became forever friends, and a great blessing in our lives! Would it have happened without that Christmas dinner. Maybe. Maybe not!

The next day we went to the stores, discovered the economical joy of after-Christmas sales, and had our “real” Christmas for the kids on the 27th. It was joyful and fun, but it was only the beginning. We had several more “Christmases” over that next week, as all those disappointed grandparents sent the presents they had bought the children. Every day more presents arrived. Every day was another Christmas! The kids had a wondrous holiday season.

A coda to this came that next summer when we arrived at my father’s house in California, and found that he and his wife had decorated…for Christmas! So they, and we, didn’t miss it after all! We will forever remember that Christmas in July!

Yes, we had a very nice, memorable, Christmas….and I know you are wondering about the keys.

About two weeks after our disappointment, I took out my wallet, tossed it on the bed, and something peeked out of one of the slots….a key! I stood there and looked at it in disbelief. If there was one thing of which I was certain, it was that I had thoroughly explored that wallet that day…many, many times. Yet there was the key. A day or two later, Betty’s key appeared in a diaper bag which she had checked, over and over again.

Absolutely baffling! Or…maybe it wasn’t! Terrible, slick roads. Sub-zero temperatures. Small children, and no car seats. Maybe we were just too determined to do something unwise, and good luck, or the love of God, got in our way! Either way…we are thankful!

Whether your Christmas feels wonderful, stressful, spiritual, embarrassing, fulfilling, or disappointing, please be aware that if you are seeing this, we care about you, and are visualizing joy and peace coming into your lives. And if things are tough now, don’t give up. The best day of all…is the day that is on its way…waiting for you!

Merry Christmas!