Dad always did things for people, but he never made a big deal about it and he rarely would accept money for his actions no matter how much time he spent or how inconvenient it was to help the person.  Two good deeds that he did at Christmas stand out in my memory.

Out of Commission

One Christmas Eve many years ago, a tractor trailer broke down along Highway 7 near Uncle Dewey’s house.  I don’t remember exactly how dad got involved.  Maybe he was just driving by and stopped. 

In any case, Dad, who throughout his life worked on just about any machinery or vehicle there was (ok, I exaggerate, but he worked on anything somebody needed fixed), had to my knowledge never worked on a semi before that day.  That didn’t stop him from delaying his plans.  He climbed up on the truck to see if he could determine what was wrong.  He tinkered with it awhile and before you know it, he had the truck running.  The truck driver was going to be able to make it home for Christmas after all!

The man offered Dad $100 and in those days that was a lot of money.  And, we didn’t have an overabundance of money.  But, in his normal fashion, Dad turned him down.  He told him to get home to his family and have a Merry Christmas!

Family In Need

One year, a family in town was struggling due to having had a house fire.  Dad knew the man and knew that due to the circumstances the family would not have any money to spend on Christmas.  We were far from rich, but he was committed to helping them out for Christmas. 

We gave them our artificial Christmas tree and borrowed one from someone else for us to use.  I don’t think we bought presents.  However, I remember shopping with Mom in a little store in Ft. Scott that year, possibly getting ornaments and other decorations for them or replacing some we gave them.  And, I know Dad also gave the man some money.  To my knowledge, there was no one coordinating help for the family.  It was just something he did.

Dad never talked about it much.  It was just something he did and nobody ever needed to know about it.  He figured it was nothing special and that anybody that could help others should do so.  Matter of fact, right now he is probably looking down scolding me for writing about it.

Good-bye 2024 . . . Hello, 2025

I am taking next week off.  But, I will be returning to my blog in 2025.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

If you celebrate a different holiday or none at all, know that my well wishes extend to you, too.