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Mark Reed, as a 1-year- old prior to surgery.


the operat- ing room


as they pumped the


blood out of his small body, cooled it down, and did the corrective sur- gery. I thought how incongruent it was to be hearing “Joy to the World” and “Away in a Manger” while a surgeon was cutting my child’s tiny heart. When I could no longer read, I silently prayed for God’s will to be done.


Finally, the surgeon reported that Mark had made it through surgery, but the next 48 hours were critical. My husband and I took Mark home on Dec. 21. There wasn’t much under the Christmas tree that year, but God gave us the best gift we have ever received—the life of our child.


Judy Reed Evangelical Lutheran Church, Waynesboro, Pa.


The gift of interruption In addition to my career as a GED teacher, I once taught a job- readiness class as part of a welfare- to-work program. For one intensive month, my students wrote resumes, practiced interviewing, worked on removing child-care barriers, etc.


Our family was opening gifts Christmas morning when the


phone rang. My husband handed it to me and said, “It’s for Miss Nonie” (what my adult students call me). I frowned and whis- pered impa- tiently, “It’s Christ-


mas morning, for heaven’s sakes.” The caller said: “Hello, Miss


Nonie! This is Beverly. I’m calling to say my children and I have a tree this year and gifts all around it, and I paid for every single one myself. I just wanted you to know. I’ll let you get back to your family. Merry Christmas!” Years later, I’m still grateful for the joy and perspective she shared with me that day.


Nonie Palmgreen Ascension Lutheran Church, Louisville, Ky.


letters—was it just too emotionally hard for them to do this? Then one morning a large box arrived at our door. To my surprise, it was a beautiful quilt with pic- tures embedded of all our extended family members. Pinned by each family photo was an envelope with that family’s letter about Sarah. My sister-in-law had asked family mem- bers to bring their letters at Thanks- giving. She then attached them to what we call “Sarah’s Christmas Quilt.”


Elaine Sabey Vincent


Mount Hermon Lutheran Church, Concord, N.C.


When Bill and Elaine (Sabey) Vincent moved to Charlotte, N.C., years ago with two young children, Sarah, 8, and Charles, 5, they left behind a large extended family in Chicago. That fam- ily surprised the Vincents with a quilt to honor Sarah’s memory in 2007, their first Christmas without her.


Sarah’s Christmas quilt In summer 2007 we lost our 22-year- old daughter, Sarah. As our first Christmas without her approached, I tried to think of a way to keep her memory alive for us and not lose the real meaning of the Christmas spirit and birth of Jesus. I finally decided to ask all of our family members and close friends to send us one of their favorite memories of Sarah. We would read these on Christmas morning together and her spirit would still be with us through these memories.


Christmas was getting closer and my husband and I couldn’t under- stand why we hadn’t received any


A Christmas check A few years ago we learned about a 3-year-old who was severely burned when she pulled a pan of boiling spa- ghetti water off the stove. Her severe injuries required doctors and hospi- tal care at great cost to her family. Our family members agreed not to give each other Christmas gifts that year and instead gave money to Sarah’s family. When her father opened the card and saw the check for $1,000 he wept. He had just made an expensive dental payment and had no idea how he would buy his family gifts. He truly believed God had sent us. Sarah’s father asked if his family could come to our home on Christ- mas so she could sing “Jesus Loves Me” to us. When they arrived, Sarah was too bashful to sing alone so we all joined in. This was a Christmas we’ll never forget.


Bill and Myrtle Brownson Zion Lutheran Church, Defiance, Ohio As simple as a pen


I’m a sudoku-before-bed addict and my husband noticed my frustration in constantly shaking my pens to get the ink to flow. His gift to me was a space pen so I can write upside down


December 2011 23


DESIGN PICS


OLAN MILLS


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