Santa’s cap courtesy of OpenClipart.org/prapanj
On Friday, all the Elementrees arrived to class with toys for the charity event. These are the toys they each brought in:
Tommy Tomorrow: a small toy car.
Bobby Bishop: a toy tool belt.
Brenda Books: a coloring book and crayons.
Cleo Redding: a colorful necklace.
Cynthia Buttons: a doll.
Amy Lockhart: a superhero action figure.
Brian Glass: a ball.
Pete Moss: wood blocks.
Trudy Jones: a teddybear.
Abigail Abacus: a deck of cards.
When Santa arrived Friday morning, he was wearing his fuzzy red suit with the fluffy white cuffs. He had on a wide black belt. He had a big belly, rosy cheeks, white curly hair, and a white beard. He was wearing his red hat with the white puff ball at the end. He walked into Ms. Applewood’s class merrily saying “Ho! Ho! Ho!” and ringing sleigh bells.
All the kids sat up straight in their chairs, smiled, and opened their eyes wide. Here was the real, live Santa right in front of them! They couldn’t believe their eyes.
“I understand you all may have some presents for me this year,” Santa said to the class.
“Yes, Santa!” the class answered.
“Thank you for sharing with the kids in the community. May the toys you donate to these kids be returned to you a thousand times. Ho! Ho! Ho! By giving you are receiving in ways you cannot even imagine,” Santa said. “This is part of my gift to you. You are all little elves this year. You are living the holiday spirit, not only in thought and word, but also in action. Ho! Ho! Ho!”
With that, Santa accepted each toy and gave each child an individually wrapped candy cane. Before Santa left the room, he rang his sleigh bells that were hanging off his big red bag that was now full of toys and said, “You are very good children. I am giving you all wonderful presents.” He gave them a wink and rang his bells as he left the room, saying “Ho! Ho! Ho!”
When Santa’s bells could no longer be heard, Tommy said, “I hope my toy car will be enjoyed by a child in need. It is a cool feeling to give to others. There’s nothing else like it in the world.”
Question: What is something you have given away to another for free this year? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Sometimes it seems we may be giving something away for free, however, there are strings attached. I sometimes wonder what charity have I truly given away in my life without any chance of my benefitting from it in any way? It may seem these blog stories are free, however, I will publish children’s books, so these “free” stories benefit (pay) me because I gain experience and a growing audience. Then again, do we need to suffer in return (experience a loss) to have really given something away for free? No, I don’t think so. The most selfless, lossless giving I have done this year is donating to the Red Cross bell ringers and to Toys for Tots. That seems very small. All the other “free” things I have given away were a mutual benefit or a sacrifice of some sort, but these things are sometimes nice to do, too.