The Best Christmas Ever | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: The Best Christmas Ever | Previous Challenge Entry
By Janet Hessert
10/09/08
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The mall was crowded with last minute shoppers on this bitter cold Saturday in December just a few days before Christmas. I imagine a mixture of emotions among the folks - worry among the adults that they won’t find that “perfect” gift and pure joy among the children as they sit on Santa’s lap and divulge their wish lists. I hoped that no one else was feeling the heart-heavy grief I was. This was the first Christmas since my grandmother – “Gram” - died earlier that year. Gram was the most important person in my life for as long as I could remember. She was there for me through my parents’ divorce and my father’s death. She made my wedding dress, my bridemaids dresses, and my mother’s dress for my wedding. There was no area of my life in which Gram was not a part so when she died, an emptiness overwhelmed me. As a Christian, I struggled with not feeling joyous most days, especially during this Christmas season.

As I went about trying to finish my shopping amid the crowd noise, I began to hear the lovely sound of Christmas carols. It was refreshing to hear children’s voices singing in harmony – made me think of heavenly cherubs praising their Creator. I came to the center of the mall and stood among others who had stopped to watch the happy carolers and listened to them. I found myself becoming filled with a sense of peace that I had not felt in months. As the children began to sing “Away in a Manger,” I had the most beautiful image pop into my mind or – should I say – our dear Lord placed an image in my mind that I will never forget. I “saw” Gram – a healthy, active Gram – walking into the manger with her hands extended toward the radiant Baby Jesus. She was smiling and looked completely peaceful. Sure, I would expect anyone walking toward that special manger to be full of joy and peace, but the fact that Gram was walking on her own was such a mighty message to me because, you see, Gram was a bilateral above-the-knee amputee the last few years of her life. The vision allowed me to see that Gram indeed was healed and experiencing eternal life. What a precious moment of healing and joy that was for me… and I knew that Gram was having the best Christmas ever!

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