Charlie's Surprise

Charlie's Surprise*

Charlie was kind of depressed. He was sitting on the edge of his bed and Christmas was coming. It was really right around the corner and he wasn't sure what to give people.

He'd given his friends and family gifts before, and while it was a happy occasion, this year he felt that he just wanted to somehow improve their lives so that they would feel better in some way - in some special way. He wasn't sure what to do.

That night just before he went to sleep he said his prayers like always but he added that he'd like his Guardian Angel to come and visit him and maybe give him some idea that he could remember in the morning for what special gift to get - and he went to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning he was hoping to remember something but he really didn't. After breakfast he came back into his room. It was Saturday and he had the day off which was nice. He looked over on the bench nearby his bed where he had taken out the Christmas decorations. 

As he looked at the decorations he walked towards them - he wasn't sure why - and he started going through them one by one. He got to the box that held the Christmas tree balls that you hang on the tree. The red ones and the green ones and the other colors. He noticed that there was one in the box that he had never used.

It was clear and because it wasn't any of the traditional colors he had never used it on his tree but he had a feeling to pull it out. So he took it out of the box and he held it up over by the window. First light was just coming in, and when he held it up to the light all of a sudden he saw a dancing Angel inside!

"Is it possible," he said. He pulled it away from the light and he held it up close to his eyes and he examined it. He didn't see any Angel in it.

"What does that mean? Uh-oh," he thought. "Maybe I'm losing my marbles, just seeing things." But then he felt like he'd try it again and he held the ornament up again in front of the window where the first light was streaming in and there she was again! An Angel, and she was dancing.

All of a sudden she stopped and she looked right at him and he didn't know what to do. He just froze. He held the Christmas ball and the Angel was looking at him and he noticed that her lips were moving. Charlie thought, "Is she trying to talk to me? What's she doing?" 

All of a sudden he heard a soft voice and the voice said, "This is what to give people this year. Look in the closet. You have another box of this kind of decoration that you bought a long time ago and you put it in the closet where you keep the Christmas things. You'll see. There's more in there."

Then her lips stopped moving, she smiled and she started dancing again.

He pulled the ornament away from the light again and he moved his pillow on the bed very carefully near where the light was and put it on the pillow so that it would be completely safe. It was made of glass. It was a very old decoration.

Charlie went to the closet where he kept the Christmas things and he dug around in there for a while and he did find that box of other Christmas tree balls. He pulled them out and then he remembered when he opened them up why he put them away.

He had bought them at an after Christmas sale without opening the box and when he got them home they were all clear, not the usual colors that he liked to put on the tree. He remembered that he was disappointed at the time and had put them away in the closet. 

Now he pulled them all out and he held each and every one up to the light and inside every one was a dancing Angel. She'd stop dancing shortly after he saw her and smile at him and then start her happy dance again. 

Charlie put them back in the box very carefully. The one he had on the pillow he was going to put on his own tree - and he had 10 friends and family he really wanted to give presents to. He'd give the 10 clear glass ball ornaments to them and he'd have two extras. He wasn't sure what to do with the two extras because the box held one dozen of those clear glass balls.

He'd give them to the people, he decided but instead of wrapping them up he'd give them before Christmas. Charlie lived in a small town so he walked over to everyone's house and he gave them the clear glass balls when the children were there. He had a feeling it was important for the children to be there when he gave them the gift. 

The parents and the other adults smiled or laughed when he told about seeing the Angel dancing that they could only see in the morning light but the children all believed it. And sure enough, when the morning light came the children would hold the glass ball up and there would be the dancing Angel and they'd run to get their parents. Their parents then saw the dancing Angel and they believed. 

Charlie decided he'd take the last 2 glass tree balls to the town square. Years ago someone had planted a pine tree there just because they thought it would be a nice thing for Christmas and over the years it had grown. People had watered it and kept it healthy and by now it was 50 feet tall. Near Christmas time people would come and put decorations on it and he decided he would do that too.

He took the last 2 glass ornaments over early in the morning just as first light was starting to begin - and by now Charlie's story about the Angels dancing in the glass balls had gotten all over town and many parents and their children and other people followed Charlie because they saw the glass balls and they had heard about the Angels but they hadn't seen them yet. 

After Charlie carefully hung them on the tree, the people and the children lined up to see. There were grandparents, parents and children and many others.

One lady asked Charlie, "You can only see the Angel at first light?" And Charlie said, "That's the only time I've been able to see her." 

Well, they all saw the Angel and they were so happy. They loved seeing her and were reminded that Angels are there for you whether you can see them or not.

Happy Holidays to you all and may you all happily  discover your Angels dancing, or otherwise, nearby. 

Goodlife.

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*If you want to hear me read it to you, click on the link. I hope you enjoy it.