A Christmas Ornament Fable

[Grouch]

[One year for Christmas, I found myself nearly broke, but desperate to give my wife a meaningful gift. I frantically thought of ways to earn extra pocket money--selling blood, pimping on the streets, posing as Bill Gates' son and extorting a small sum of money from him, etc.--but nothing came to me....until I thought to myself, "Give her the gift of words. They're cheap and easy." So, I sat down to write something which would reflect our life up to that point and my love and commitment to this beautiful woman who had slipped the ring on her finger those many years ago. I had just enough money saved to buy her a Christmas ornament, in keeping with one of our holiday traditions. The one I picked out was the replica of small cottage: snow frosting the roof, candlelight glowing inside, and a breath of smoke wafting from the chimney. I wrote the following fable and taped it to the bottom of the ornament (one reason for the story's brevity). Each year when she pulls out the ornament and reads the little note, my wife cries for the hundredth time. She tells me it's the best thing I ever "bought" for her]

Once upon a time, there was a man and a woman who fell in love. They fell in love for all the right reasons, but mainly because they were dreamers. They dreamed of the perfect life which always included things like giggling children, long walks at twilight followed by steaming mugs of cocoa. They promised themselves that, no matter what, they would one day live in a snug little cottage in a snug little valley beneath towering mountains that always looked dusted with powdered sugar. In their dreams, they had very little money, but they were happy. They often wondered if they were happy because they were poor or if they were poor because they chose to be happy. “Either way,” they said, “we will be content in our snug little cottage, sipping cocoa by the crackling fireplace.” Of course they got married and had children and sometimes they even had cocoa. But then something happened. The cares of the world swept in like a bitter wind full of sleet and ice. The wind was full of things like selfishness, pride, greed and foolishness – all the things they swore they’d never fall prey to. Well…they fell prey. In order to stave off the bad weather, the man and the woman became very, very serious. And they turned their attention to working instead of dreaming. And eventually, their dreams dwindled away. And the cocoa went unmade. And the evening walks went unwalked. And the cottage…well, there was never any question about that, was there? No, the man and the woman lived in a box-like house in the city, boxed-in tight beside a hundred other boxy houses. And the man went to work at night and the woman cleaned house all day and neither had time to make their children giggle what with the cares of the world demanding their constant attention. When they came together at the end of the day, neither had the energy to do much more than complain about the cares of the world. And the man and the woman grew old and unhappy and dreamless. They often wondered if they were unhappy because they didn’t dream or if they didn’t dream because they were unhappy. “Either way,” they said, “what does it matter?” Then one day, the man was passing by a shop when something caught his eye. He almost didn’t stop (due to the cares of the world urging him on his way), but stop he did. And there, in the shop window was a tiny little cottage. It looked like a snug little home that might easily have been nestled in a valley beneath sugar-topped mountains. When he saw the ornament, something broke inside the man’s heart and an old dream, long pent-up burst forth and flooded his dry, serious mind. And he said, “I’ll buy this cottage for my poor, tired wife and remind her of the happy life we once dreamed of living. And perhaps she’ll agree it’s not too late to rekindle that dream.”

And that is exactly what he did…

[taurusmoon]

Sniff.

That is sooooooo lovely.

Sniff.


Sara
Sniff

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

No fair making me cry at work!!!!!

mj

[soxfan[$]]

:sniffling: Damn. Where are those Kleenex when you need them?

Thanks, Grouch.

Ailsa

[tipu]

Sleeeeep... and perchance you will dream...?

I was never good at getting the mural in them dammed fabley tails.

Opal.

[ms_n]

Lovely.

[hadassahchana[$]]

David, I was crying by the end of your prologue. Wonderful - both the writing and the dreaming!


Cindy

[kurt_messick]

Very nice.

[lynnzop[$]]

David, that was beautiful...your wife is a lucky woman!

Lynn

[murasaki]

Beautiful story, you old softy!

--naomi

[ms_n]

My 12 year-old daughter just cited this in a paper for her English class on Love and commented:

This story is true. It was written by a man as a note to his wife one Christmas. It is one of the sweetest things I have ever read .

It was included amongst such writings as O. Henry's Gift of the Magi . Thanks again for sharing this with us, Grouch.

[rich2003dm]

David,

Thank you for sharing this.

It's a simple but beautiful little story that has relevance for so many of us who get so caught up in life that we forget to live.

Happy Holidays!

Rich

[magenta321]

Awww, now why'd you go and make me cry?

Honestly, that is very sweet. I'd read your note for the hundredth time and cry myself.

[jankp]

Dreams make the world go 'round. No, wait, that's love. Well, same thing if they're shared by two. Sweet story, you green Sesame Street monster.

Jan