WRITER'S CHALLENGE #1

I would like to thank all of you for participating in my first Writer's Challenge. Feel free to take the Quill and inkpot for your post. Invite your friends.
I thought the topic of "one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for you" was appropriate for this weekend because it is Canadian Thanksgiving. Here is my story.



I am a lucky woman. I have had many kind and loving things done for me in my life. They all have meant so much to me. Some were caring and kind. Some were thoughtful and helpful. But one stands out the most because it came from love.

My mother passed away when I was 25 years old. My father was not around. My mom had so little when she died. A bit of cheap furniture, one nice set of dishes, some odds and ends. My siblings and I just shared the bits and pieces according to our needs at the time. Nothing to fight about because there was nothing there.

One Christmas, several years later we were at my in-laws home for Christmas Eve, or Holy Night as they referred to it. My in-laws celebrated Holy Night in the European tradition. Of course there were candles and greenery. A wispy tree with natural ornaments on it. Picture some silver money tree bunches clustered in front of some of the tree lights. Little feathered birds and gauzy angel hair. The kids were always busting with anticipation for the gifts but they had to wait until after dinner. I guess I was just as excited. Christmas as a child in our sparse home was less than plain with my mom often depending on a food hamper for our Christmas dinner.

This particular year my husband's brother and his wife and kids were there too. We enjoyed our dinner though what we had escapes me. The gift opening started with the youngest child choosing a gift to pass to someone to open. Tradition. No ripping off the paper here. A deliberate act of enjoying the wrapping and card. The expressions of thanks to the gift giver. The sharing of the gift with everyone there to see. One at a time slowly savored.

There were many gifts given and received that night. It had been a lovely evening celebration. The kids were playing with their gifts. The adults were in animated conversations back and forth around the rooms. As I came out of the washroom my mother in law was waiting for me in the hallway. She took me aside and put something in my hand and said "This is for you because you don't have a mommy around anymore to pass these things down to you". When I opened my hand there was a delicate gold chain with a beautiful pendant on it. It was my birthstone, an opal. She then told me that this opal necklace had belonged to her mother long since gone. I thought I would collapse. I cherish this necklace. I so appreciate the reasons why she gave it to me. It was a private gift and not a Christmas gift to be opened in front of others. She knew I had nothing tangible of my mothers and would never inherit a lovely piece of jewelry. She knew I was sad that my mother was no longer here and it was especially hard at Christmas. It was such a generous gift and I am not referring to money. It was the nicest thing someone has ever done for me and it was given with love. 

Similar but not the actual one.

Please enter your post url below and email me with any questions. I am so excited to read all of your stories. Thanks so much for joining in. I will leave Mr. Linky up until Wedsnesday.