Merry Christmas Sandra Dunham*

(*small gifts)

My Christmas story this year has the obscure title "Merry Christmas Sandra Dunham" but I decided to give it the subtitle "small gifts" in honour of those small but memorable Christmas gifts that we have all either given or received. The ones that seem to stick in your memory and somehow remain meaningful throughout the years. I think when you read this story you will see why I added the sub-title.

This story is also about saying thank you for all those small gifts. Thank you to all the people who have made, and continue to make Christmas so special. So what's with the jet plane and who is Sandra Dunham? Well, that is what we in the story writing business call a "hook" and it is meant to pique your interest. If your interest is sufficiently piqued - then I suggest you read on...

Christmas, as we all agree, is a time for giving but that is only one side of the equation isn't it? Givers need someone to give to - otherwise what would be the point? I have been the giver of many gifts, but I have also been the "getter" and that is why I want to say thank you. I have a lot to be thankful for so let's get started! And where better to start than with my parents?

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for all the fine Christmas dinners and the trees and decorations. Thanks for all the toys and thanks for the clothes and socks and underwear that I didn't appreciate when I was a kid. Thanks for staying up late, being Santa Claus and filling my stocking with all those small gifts.

Thanks to my wife for buying me what I didn't even know I needed, for knitting me wool socks and sewing me a Christmas night shirt. Thanks for staying up late with me on all those Christmas Eves and helping me be Santa Claus. Thanks for wrapping all those small gifts and thanks for reminding me every year how important they are. Thanks to my kids for all those small gifts that parents love the most. And thanks for letting me sit through all those Christmas concerts...

Thanks to my sisters and brothers for sharing all those exciting Christmas Eves and glorious Christmas mornings, for trimming all those trees and putting up garlands in the many houses we lived in. Thanks for all the small gifts that added up to so many under all those trees, and thanks for the special visits over the holidays - past, present and future.

Thanks to my in-laws for the gift of visiting us on so many Christmases when you could have been home enjoying your own small gifts. I continue to be amazed and appreciative of anyone who is willing to endure the stress and inconvenience of traveling at Christmas. In some ways this may be the best gift of all...

To my good friends I say thanks for all the Christmas cards, the parties and the laughter; thanks for all the small gifts we have exchanged over the years. Our families have grown but we still make time to be together during the Christmas season.

And finally, a special thanks to Sandra Dunham. A girl in my class in grade seven who must have been oh so thrilled when she drew my name that year for the Secret Santa exchange of gifts. We didn't really talk or even know each other - so how did she know how much I loved model airplanes? How did she know how much happiness a small but appropriate gift can bring? Maybe she just got lucky or maybe she had a thirteen year old brother - all I know is that on a stormy last day of school in 1965 that small, inexpensive gift sure made an impression on me. After forty odd years I can still remember the fun I had sitting at the dining room table putting it together. Isn't it amazing that of all the gifts I have received over the years this one still stands out?

I hope I didn't miss anyone, but in case I did - let me say it all over again. "Thanks - I love it!" "How did you know?" "Just what I wanted!" and "You shouldn't have."  In closing I just want to say may we all continue to both give and receive those small gifts. God bless us all... and Merry Christmas Sandra Dunham!