The Christmas Visitor

[The Story Teller]

The Christmas Visitor



Martha looked out her window on that cold Christmas Eve morning. The snow had begun to taper off. She sat down in her rocker and began reflecting on spending another Christmas alone. Martha’s daughter and son-in-law and their two children lived quite a distance from her and Martha had no other family. They called regularly and they visited her each summer, but a call is not the same as a hug, a smile, and a chat and it was a long time until summer.



As Martha sat there rocking and thinking how few of her friends her age were still around, she fell asleep and began to dream. She dreamed that someone was knocking at her door.



As she opened it she saw a man with a kindly face.



May I shovel the snow from your walk?



It depends on how much you charge. I’m on a fixed income.



Oh, there will be no charge.



No charge! You’re kidding?



Oh, no ma’am.



Well, how do you make any money?



Oh, I am not doing this to make money, but to serve others.



Well, I’ll let you do it on one condition, and that is that you come in and have some hot chocolate and cookies afterwards.



Sounds like a good deal to me, the man said as he set off to begin his work.



Since the snow was so deep, it took him a while to finish the job.



Martha was so glad to have someone to talk to and share her cookies with that they seemed to sit and talk for at least an hour.



My family lives so far away and I miss them dearly and I must tell you that I am not looking forward to another Christmas alone. It’s lonely here during the winter and I’m afraid to get out in the bad weather and I hardly ever have visitors.



I have a feeling that it will be different this year, the visitor replied.



Time passed quickly and soon it was time for the visitor to leave.



You don’t know how much this meant to me. I don’t have to worry about finding someone to do my walk and I really enjoyed getting to share my cookies with someone. Would you mind if I gave you a hug?



I’d love one, the stranger replied.



After they hugged the stranger took hold of Martha’s hands. As she let go she noticed that his hands were scarred and wanted to ask him what caused it, but she refrained.



The visitor noticed Martha looking at his hands and said, It happened a long time ago when I was doing something for someone I loved.



They hugged again and then he left.



A short time later Martha awakened to the chime of the doorbell. She wondered who it could be, and hurried to the door to find out. As she opened the door she noticed Sarah, the young woman who had recently moved in next door.



Oh, hi Sarah. What can I do for you today?



Actually Martha, it is more what I can do for you. Because of our jobs, Bill and I aren’t going to be able to go home for Christmas, and we’d like for you to join is tomorrow if you don’t have other plans.



I’d love to! My daughter and son-in-law live too far away to come for Christmas, and to be honest with you, I wasn’t looking forward to spending the day by myself.



Great! Why don’t you plan on coming over for breakfast? Bill always fixes me a big breakfast for Christmas, and we’d love for you to enjoy it with us.



That sounds wonderful! What time do you want me to come over?



Is 9:00 too early?



No, that would be great. I’m always up before 7:00.



See, you tomorrow morning then.



As Sarah turned to leave Martha noticed that her walk had been shoveled.



By the way, Sarah, be sure and thank Bill for shoveling my walk.



Oh, Bill didn’t do it.



He didn’t! Do you have any idea who did?



He was a stranger to me, but he must have been someone familiar with the neighborhood, because the only two houses shoveled were yours and Mrs. Parkington’s. I guess he knew there was a man at all the other houses. Actually, that was what gave us the idea to invite you over.



They said good-bye, and Martha turned away from her door with a puzzled look on her face. She shut the door and went back to her rocker where she noticed on a table nearby sat two empty cups and a plate of cookie crumbs.



Copyright 2001 Steve Demaree



To God Be The Glory!





=====

Steve Demaree

1608 Summerhill Drive

Lexington, KY 40515

(606) 271-2416

moviesteve@rocketmail.com

Submitted by Richard

 

[Hopeful]

creepy, but cool

 

[The Story Teller]

creepy, but cool

What??? You've never had something happen to you that you couldn't explain?? I have..

 

[Hopeful]

...as long as it doesn't happen too often...

 

[The Story Teller]

...as long as it doesn't happen too often...

[font=&quot]As far as I'm concerned God can do anything He wants to..[/font]

 

[Sun_flwer]

What??? You've never had something happen to you that you couldn't explain?? I have..

Ty for the story. Would you share what happened to you?Please

 

[The Story Teller]

Ty for the story. Would you share what happened to you?Please

This may not seem big to you but at the time I was lost in the city. I needed to be at a business at 3:00 PM and I was lost. I stopped a person walking and asked for directions. After he gave me the directions and after I finished writing them down, when I looked up the man was gone. We were in the middle of a block and the only entrance to a building was over 5 hundred yards away. No one could have walked or run fast enough to get there before I looked up. He never even stayed around long enough for me to thank Him..

 

[PASHOK]

Back when I used to live with my parent, we went out with our family and friends to the lake. We were @ the lake until it began getting dark. We were packing and on parking lot everyone was already gone home, also there was not buildings around just trees and lake. I have 4 brothers and 2 sisters and both of our parents came on Station Wagon, so we were not in a hurry to pack in to that crummy space, instead we were just chasing eachother around. Then dozen of cars started arriving full of youth, they parked on the other side of parking lot, unloading beer and playing loud music, some that were really drunk were yelling insults at us. My dad was trying to get everyone going but we were not listening to him. Then one of the guys from the group was coming toward us with a baseball bat, while my dad search for something in trunk and yelling at us to get inside. Then Guy with a bat stopped and turned arround because there was one more car coming, which parked next to ours. Two men got out with bikes and then they told us that those are bad people and that they would wait until we left to make sure we were safe. My dad thinks they may have been an angels sent by God.

 

[The Story Teller]

Back when I used to live with my parent, we went out with our family and friends to the lake. We were @ the lake until it began getting dark. We were packing and on parking lot everyone was already gone home, also there was not buildings around just trees and lake. I have 4 brothers and 2 sisters and both of our parents came on Station Wagon, so we were not in a hurry to pack in to that crummy space, instead we were just chasing eachother around. Then dozen of cars started arriving full of youth, they parked on the other side of parking lot, unloading beer and playing loud music, some that were really drunk were yelling insults at us. My dad was trying to get everyone going but we were not listening to him. Then one of the guys from the group was coming toward us with a baseball bat, while my dad search for something in trunk and yelling at us to get inside. Then Guy with a bat stopped and turned arround because there was one more car coming, which parked next to ours. Two men got out with bikes and then they told us that those are bad people and that they would wait until we left to make sure we were safe. My dad thinks they may have been an angels sent by God.

Your Dad is a very wise man. I'm sure he prayed a prayer of thanks on the way home. Maybe tomorrow I'll post a true story about angels. But I might wait until monday because I usually don't post on the weekends. That's the time I reserve for my family..

 

[Sun_flwer]

Wow,great stories! Thank-you for sharing them.

 

[The Story Teller]

Wow,great stories! Thank-you for sharing them.

If you like them and want to pass them on, be my guest..