The Christmas Gift
The story goes that some time ago a man punished his 5-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping
paper. Money was tight and he became even more upset when the child pasted the gold paper so as to decorate a box to put under
the Christmas tree.
Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy." The
father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found the box was empty. He spoke to
her in a harsh manner, "Don't you know, young lady, when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside
the package?"
The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until
it was full." The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her to forgive
him for his unnecessary anger.
An accident took the life of the child only a short time later and it is told that the father kept that gold box by his
bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems he would open the box and take
out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.
In a very real sense, each of us as human beings have been given a golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses
from our children, family, and friends. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.
May nothing be too small to give or too big to ... |

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receive if wrapped in love and tied with thoughtfulness. |
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