Everyday Canvas

Seeking Shelter and Christmas

Prompt: It's a miserable night weather wise when a man and a woman clearly pregnant appear at your door seeking shelter, what will you do?

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OMG! This is a tough one in this day and age. I would probably ask them in, feed them and make a bed for the night. But my hubby, my son, and my daughter-in-law would go nuts over my actions, as something kind of related to this idea really happened once.

It was on a night when my son and his wife were staying with us. A man who did some yard work for us during that day knocked on the door at 2:30 in the morning and asked to borrow 20 dollars gas money. He said his mother in law got sick in the next town and he didn’t have gas in his car to go to her, and he had no money with him. We had paid him cash during the day, but he said he didn’t have that money anymore. I told him to wait at the door. I got a 20 and gave it to him. He said he’d do some more yard work for it when we call him again, and then, seeing all the cars around, he asked if all those people lived with us. I said they did.

Now, I may be gullible but I believed him in essence. Everyone else thought he had a drug problem, and I was stupid opening the door to him in the middle of the night. Then, my family members gave it to me full blast. The thing is, I am a light sleeper and they were all in deep sleep, so I went to the door. He told me his name and I recognized him through the peephole.

We never called that guy again, and he never called us and never showed up.

My family might have been right, but I might have been, too.

I can sense the Mary and Joseph allusion in this prompt, but maybe it is a better idea to call the police and ask for their help. According to statistics, home invasions are facts, especially for gullible old people.

I just wish ours was a much better world and no one could feel the need to lock their doors against others.

Christmas

Prompt: Megan asked us to write anything about Christmas. Here is mine:

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“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!”
Hamilton Wright Mabie


One of the good deeds of Christmas I can personally recall is a painter who was my friend although he was in his eighties and I was in my thirties. He constructed a nativity scene from balsa wood for his neighbor to cheer the family up because, a month ago, the father of the family had suddenly passed away as the result of a car accident.

Then, a neighbor of ours always took some blankets, clothes, food, and gifts that he collected from the area to the homeless shelter on Christmas Eve.

When caroling was considered the norm and not a weird thing, a family used to keep mugs of hot chocolate warm for the carolers. I’m privileged to have known that family very well.

I think Christmas or any other holiday belonging to whichever nation or race is only memorable because of the acts of the people, and not because of the rituals, beliefs, or material things.