It was yet another snowless Christmas Eve in the rain soaked Green Valley this year. Robbie was wrapping up his second year as the Ag Teacher there at the High School and had experienced great growth both in his professional and personal life. This year would be Robbie’s first time celebrating Christmas alone; a lot of changes had happened and he could not help but think of that sheering loneliness.
Yet, as he was settling into his arm chair to contemplate the silence of the season; the door shook from a heavy beating, then came the chiming voices in quick succession,
“Mr. Wolfe?” came a small hesitant voice.
“Mr. Wolfe!” shouted a voice with uncontainable excitement.
“Please come to the door Mr. Wolfe!” spoke a more familiar voice that Robbie quickly recognized.
Robbie couldn’t help but wonder what Mr. Baker was doing there on Christmas Eve as he cracked the door open to then quickly find Todd Baker and his two younger children standing on his porch.
“Mr. Wolfe, we are here to kidnap you!” exploded the young boy as he reached out to grab Robbie’s hand.
“Okay, okay Simon,” said Todd snagging Simon’s jacket, “I was joking in the vehicle we are not actually kidnapping Mr. Wolfe, but we are nicely inviting him to join our family for the festivities of today and tomorrow.”
Robbie began stammering,
“Oh that is so generous of you Mr. Baker,” Robbie could feel himself blushing, this was a completely unexpected surprise, “I don’t want to burden your family during the holidays, but I truly can’t express the thanks to all of you,”
“Mr. Wolfe, I think you misunderstood us, this was not an opti–” Todd covered Simon’s mouth.
Todd then quickly shared,
“Mr. Wolfe, it would be a pleasure and far from a burden, Ms. Wright, our former Ag Teacher and her immediate family will also be joining us tomorrow. We can come back in an hour after you have time to pack and we’ve got a spare room that isn’t in use since our other relatives couldn’t make it this year!”
Robbie was still trying to process it all and could just barely get out,
“Well, I don’t want to be rude, but…” and before he could say more, Simon shouted,
“Super, super!! I’ve got big plans Mr. Wolfe; hide and seek, nerf gun battles–” Simon’s motor mouth was brought to an abrupt stop by his sister who motioned an obvious ‘Be Quite’ motion.
“Simon please, we actually want Mr. Wolfe to come with us!” pleaded Mary.
Robbie’s heart sank as he looked at the two Baker children looking up with eagerly waiting eyes.
“Oh gosh, yes, I’ll be packed up within the hour, Mr. Baker. Thank you so much for this!” Robbie said.
“Excellent, myself and the twins will be back soon Mr. Wolfe,” Todd turned with his children, as excited chatter commenced between Simon and Mary.
After several rounds of hide-and-seek, Robbie, being of smaller stature, managed to squeeze into ridiculous spots that Simon and Mary found hilarious.
“Mr. Wolfe, when we play with Mom and Dad it is never this hard! What adult could possibly fit in the dryer?!” Simon laughed, with baffled amazement.
Robbie was thinking the same thing because he almost threw out his back, but was competitive by nature.
“Mr. Wolfe can you help us with something?” asked Mary in a low whisper.
“Well, sure, if it doesn’t involve identifying future hide-and-seek spots!” returned Robbie with a wink and laugh.
“Oh no, we would never ask that, that’d be cheating, but since you brought it up–” Simon was quickly cut off by Mary.
“We really want to get our parents something for Christmas, but they said they already have everything they want…we know that can’t possibly be true Mr. Wolfe. I mean we don’t have everything we want and we’re not even adults.”
“Well, I mean as you get older, perspective does tend to change,” Robbie said, trying to reason with the twins.
“Mr. Wolfe that doesn’t even make sense. What could possibly change someone’s mind about PRESENTS?!” added Simon, with massive exasperation.
“You see we have to get our parents something, anything, we have spent so many Christmas’ only getting, and we want to give them something for once!” Mary’s desperate pleas began to be accompanied with little tears.
“Okay, Simon and Mary; let’s think about this,” said Robbie as he saw they were both becoming a little emotional, “What do your parents really enjoy?”
“Well, my Dad really likes his tools,” spoke up Simon, “He has a whole garage full! Whenever he needs to work on a piece of farm machinery he is digging through the garage!”
“Mom, is obsessed with puzzles, she has so many that there is a closet full!!” Mary could barely contain her excitement, but then dread began to befall on the twins, “but how on earth will we afford presents for our parents and get there to buy them…it’s already Christmas Eve!”
An idea struck Robbie as he was going to the store later after the evening service to get last minute gifts for the Baker family,
“I could pick up some gifts for you all on behalf of your parents!”
“Mr. Wolfe, thank you surely for the offer, but we want to get these gifts,” stated Mary with Simon nodding in approval.
“Hmmm, well maybe you could all regift some of what they already have? If they have everything they need, what joy would it bring to receive it again?” offered Robbie.
“Wow! Mr. Wolfe that is an excellent idea!!” Simon looked as if he was about to jump for joy, “I could find some of my Dad’s favorite tools!”
“Dude, Simon, I could snag some of our Mom’s older puzzles she hasn’t put together in a few years!” suddenly Robbie’s idea took off like wildfire and the twins were racing to their respective destinations!
An hour later, Robbie, was busily helping the twins wrap their first Christmas presents for their parents! Simon and Mary snuck their presents down to the tree while their parents were busy preparing the next day’s Christmas meal. Mary and Simon were utterly beaming. Mary whispered up to Robbie,
“Guess what, we put that the presents were from Santa!!!”
“Yeah, our parents are going to be so surprised!” shared an equally excited Simon. Robbie could only give them an approving nod and big smile. For the twins, tomorrow could not get here soon enough!
Christmas morning seemed to drag by as the twins looked expectantly at the tree, their little hearts amped to see their parents open their surprise gifts.
“Come on, Mom and Dad, when are we going to open presents??” asked Simon, almost unable to keep from spilling all the beans to his parents.
“Now, Simon, we need to wait for Ms. Wright and her family. Your presents are not going anywhere,” sighed Todd, wishing his children would not be so self-consumed with this false sense of Christmas.
“No, I’m concerned about your pres–” Mary gave a heavy elbow to Simon before he could finish, “I mean, oooww, Mary was that really necessary?” the twins silently squabbled as they retreated from the room to only storm the house entrance when they heard the doorbell.
“It’s the Wright’s!! They’re here, we can FINALLY open PRESENTS!!!!” Simon had absolutely no sound control, and Mary was also dancing up and down.
“Simon and Mary, what is going on? This isn’t normal, please calm down for our guests,” said their mother, Sara, soothingly, yet disapprovingly as she glided past them to open the door for the Wright Family, “Welcome Ms. Wright and what a treat it is so good to see you all!”
Now, Mary and Simon had to wait patiently for the Wright’s to settle in and they kept sneaking peers over to Robbie trying to get him to rush things along! Robbie however kept sharing the same thing, “Mary and Simon, you will spoil the surprise if you can’t keep it in check.” That would help for about ten minutes and he could tell they were already restless!
Present opening began about 30 minutes after the Wright’s arrived and was in process, Todd and Sara were more than a little disappointed in Mary and Simon because any gift they received they ripped through the wrapping and set aside to then quickly see what present their parents had in hand. Their other siblings were deeply respectful and looked with equal disdain at their unappreciative younger siblings.
Then, two of the Wright grandchildren, who were the present delivers grabbed two buried gifts under the tree and handed them to Sara and Todd. They both exchanged puzzled looks to each other. They were the only ones to address their presents as “From Santa”; yet here were two gifts addressed to them and from Santa. Todd mouthed the words to Sara,
“Did you get me something?”
Sara gave a hard negative nod and mouthed,
“No, did you get me something?” Todd also gave a sharp head shake and they both looked around smiling hoping no one noticed the confused look, but they both did notice Mary and Simon holding their breath and standing with their hands on their heads looking like they would pass out.
Sara and Todd began to open their respective gifts and hushed acclimations ensued,
“Wow, this set of screwdrivers is exactly what I would use!” shared a shocked Todd.
“This puzzle is the exact style I’ll enjoy putting together!” a surprised Sara exclaimed. After the next two objects were unwrapped Sara and Todd started to suspect something amiss.
“This hammer seems oddly familiar, it is nice, but…” Todd began looking around.
“I know what you mean, Todd, this puzzle looks pretty similar to another puzzle I own,” Sara and Todd trained their eyes on Mary and Simon.
“Merry Christmas!” sheepishly exclaimed Mary and Simon.
Todd and Sara both looked stunned,
“Mr. and Mrs. Baker I can explain,” Robbie quickly interjected on behalf of the twins.
“No need too, Mr. Wolfe,” said Todd as he turned and smiled to his wife and gave out a boisterous laugh! “This has to be one of the best gifts, I’ve ever gotten! Simon and Mary did you all repackage items your mother and I owned?”
“Well, yes, but we didn’t have the money to buy you something and you shared that you already have everything you need so Mr. Wolfe suggested we give you presents you already use! We just wanted to make sure you got something this year,” stammered out the twins speaking over each other.
Sara could not stop beaming, “Oh our dearest children, I guess we have not done a well enough job in sharing, our greatest unspoken gift for Christmas is all of us gathered here together.”
Todd joined in, “Without you our family, no matter what gifts are under this tree can never replace or substitute the joy we cherish in each of you. We love you so much! Can we offer a little Novena for us all?” Everyone was in quick agreement:
Todd began,
“Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother.
Amen.”
This little Christmas story from Green Valley speaks to numerous themes for how we can carry ourselves through this joyous Christmas season! Only three Christmas’ before I too like Robbie was contemplating what a lonely Thanksgiving and Christmas would feel like. Yet, a family adopted me for that season and much as the Baker family, the Borggreen family made feel a welcomed part of their Christmas tradition and certainly not absent of the epic nerf-gun battles or hyped hide-and-seek with little Austin.
Yet, as the little Baker children discovered Christmas is truly about the joy of family being together and sharing the love that fills each of us through Christ our Lord. I also thank part of this story’s inspiration from a favorite Christmas story shared by our School Superintendent, Rex Boley, from his childhood when he packaged his father’s shop tools for Christmas presents.
May each of us find this to be a blessed Christmas Day as we survey the love and joy that surrounds us! May our Lord Jesus pour out his spirit and blessings on each of us as we close out this day!
Thank you for reading and sharing this little short story! If you’d like to read more stories from the Green Valley characters here are some additional reads:
Take care, Anthony
Perennial Educator 