My mother (and my dad, when he was living) long ago told me and my siblings that they didn't want anything for themselves from us for Christmas. Instead they wanted us to do something for others -- make a contribution to an organization, help an individual, whatever we chose. So each year we decide on something to do for Mom's present, and I write a letter describing it -- usually trying to find a way to include humor in the letter. But in 2008, the gift we chose for her was a donation to Wonder Workshop, a local organization that has wonderful programs for kids. And I found myself writing a story rather than a letter. I paired it with a a trio of small nesting boxes. Inside the smallest one was a too-tiny-to-easily-read copy of the story and a cross lapel pin. I gave her the full-sized version after she had gotten to the inside.
When she moved out of her apartment into the room she lives in now, and was downsizing, she gave me the boxes back.
Below you'll find the text of the story. For the picture I printed a copy with the reference to Wonder Workshop and that specific year's gift to her deleted. I like the story that I wrote very much and thought it was a natural for the current six word story challenge, the theme of which is "stories that express the meaning of Christmas – giving, peace, joy, and wonder."
You'll see the opening phrase in red reads only "The Wonder of the Gift" -- Rats! just 5 words. To make the title six words, I appended the next word of the main sentence.
THE WONDER OF THE GIFT (if wonder is the word that most describes) was this: each time the child thought it would be revealed there was, instead, another package –– another, smaller-yet-than-the-one-before box. And inside that, one more. And strangely enough it WAS wonder and not disappointment she felt. So, with careful hands, each lid was gently lifted, each box inspected and laid aside until at last there was the glint of something other –– something of Substance. So tiny that at first it was not recognized –– would not have been noticed had it not been nestled inside so many layers. Perhaps it was the mounting anticipation, the focused task of unwrapping again and again. Perhaps it was an angel whispering in her ear telling her, “This!” and “Look here.” It was precisely in this way that God’s greatest gift came into the world – so tiny that at first even his own mother did not know. (“The same way I came?” asked the child? Yes! Yes! Yes!) And still today this gift –– so large it can fill the world –– is strangely also so small it can be missed –– and so every year, precisely because it might be overlooked if not for the gaudy, insistent packaging, we wrap it with layers and layers of tinsel and trees, carols and cookies, stories and sentiment, family and friends.
And Thank you for entering the sixws challenge.