Joy for Loss, Part 2

My friend, Donna, lost her husband several years ago in the summer.  As the holidays approached she opted out of decorating, refused invitations to holiday gatherings and retreated into sadness. “I don’t know how to get through it,”  she told me repeatedly,  “ I’m just trying to endure it!”  Nothing I said or did seemed to help.  However,  an unknown someone found a way to cheer Donna and ignite an anticipation for the holiday.
On December 13,  late in the evening,  Donna’s doorbell rang.   She opened the door to an empty porch with a basket of pears in front of her door.  An attached note explained the historical implications of the carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.  The carol was code for persecuted Christians to spread the gospel message.  The partridge in the pear tree represented Christ on the cross.  For the next eleven nights, the late ring and run ended with more gifts and more messages.  Donna admits to trying to catch the giver.   She would randomly flip on the porch light, she stood in a darkened room peeking out through blinds, she accused her friends, family and co-workers, (mostly me). Her entire demeanor changed.  The holidays held a twinge of excitement.  She began to look forward to each night leading up to Christmas.  “It made all the difference”,  she maintains, years later.
I was NOT the instigator, we never learned its origins.  However, this experience catapulted Donna and I into extending the twelve days of hope to many other widows over the next few years. Our escapades are chronicled in the 2022 edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul’s The Magic of Christmas.  I also posted our adventures on my face book page last December.  When flattened  against the side of a house, feet entangled in a bush, out of breathe from running but smiling from ear to ear;  and the widow from the porch calls out,  “Hello?  Thank you.”    The effort to deliver in rain, sleet, snow and freezing temperatures is worth it!

To Be continued.