A Christmas Story ...

Christmas as we all know has always been a child’s favorite holiday. The lights, the smells, and the joys of opening up prettily wrapped presents to discover the contents, perhaps it is something they asked for all year long, perhaps it is something they have dreamt of, and perhaps it is something that they need.
A few years back I had put in my request to be off for the Holiday’s long before the Holiday approached. I had been listening closely to the things mentioned all year long that the boys said they wanted or would like to have. I started my shopping in September. Each week I would get a couple of things on their list, I was just as excited about Christmas coming as they were.
That particular year deliveries were behind and man power was short so we all had to work a little harder. We did not mind so much because they more stops we put off and the more miles that we drove all added to the paycheck.
My deliveries waned over into Christmas Eve. The entire day I was in a rush, I was almost in tears because I felt like I would not be at home in the morning when the boys woke up. I have always watched them open their presents on Christmas morning, I could not stand the thought of missing this one.
All day long I put off my stops in Georgia. Finally at 5PM no stores would accept any more deliveries, as they were closing to go home and be with their families. At this point I was directed to go to a shipping yard and hand offload the rest of my load onto another trailer along with some other drivers who had not been able to offload their complete loads that day as well.
After hand unloading case-goods furniture onto another trailer it was after six PM Christmas Eve. I then had to drive 311 miles from Atlanta, GA back to our trucking company’s yard in Mississippi. It was almost midnight when I arrived at the yard in Mississippi. I then had to grab my gear, and get into my car and drive 65 miles to my home to load up all the presents, pack our bags for a few day’s stay away from home and clean up from working all day.
It was a little after 2AM Christmas morning when we were packed and ready to go. We then made the five hour drive to my mothers house to be there when the kids woke up to open their presents. I prayed the entire way that they would not wake up and momma not be there.
I did make it before they woke up and I was able to see their faces when they walked into the den to see all the things that Santa had left for them.
Later in the day we were playing with all the new toys and having a good time, I happen to ask them if they had a good Christmas at home. This is when my heart broke. They boys explained to my entire family that they got to open one present each. I said “Well you can open the rest when you get back home after Christmas Break” Their response “No, we can not open the rest until our aunt gets out of prison in a couple of months”
I had to walk out of the room and have myself a good cry. WHY should children be made to wait for the happiest Holiday of the year because someone else is in prison?? To this day I have not forgotten the look on their faces, and the pain I felt in my own heart that they had to sacrifice because someone else’s mistakes. All my sacrifice, hard work and determination to be there for them on Christmas morning was worth it all. If I had failed to have been there Christmas morning, what kind of Christmas would they have had that year? I thank God for watching over me and helping me have the strength to get to Missouri to be with my boys safely and on time.