A Little Boy's Christmas

 Dear Mary,

This is the story of a little boy in my class, with his name redacted to protect his identity. He had a pretty rough childhood; his mom was on welfare and SNAP. Two years before I had him in my class, I had heard from another teacher he was even suicidal in second grade. 

I know that I am the "soft touch" kinda teacher, so I had noticed that he was wearing older clothes that were probably one to two sizes too small for him, e.g., the hem of his jeans came down to just past his calves. At a parents' gathering, I took his mom aside and asked her if she wouldn't mind if I were to buy him some clothes for Christmas. She was glad that I would do so, because, deity bless him, he had only asked her for a Ronald McDonald watch that was only $2 on promotion at the drive in.

I then went on a mission to shop every thrift store in Burien WA, to look for clothing that would fit him. This was in the days of the old Sears catalog, and looked up his size there, and knew what size range would fit him. I bought him a few pairs of jeans and some shirts. To be sure, I had our beloved secretary measure him to be sure what I should have bought.

I had the good fortune to know one of the moms from the parent group, who knew how to sew and do alterations. She hemmed up the pant legs to the proper length to fit him.

It was two days before Christmas Break, and I wanted to give these to him before the end of school that year, in case I needed to get him some other clothes. 

He always showed up early for school, and I took him into the classroom and handed him the clothes, neatly folded in a paper grocery bag. I took him to the staff restroom, and asked him to try them on to see if everything fit properly. He came out of the restroom, looking so happy and so proud, and he showed off in his clothes for the secretary and the principal.

And then he said, "Mr. Lewis, I don't have anything to give you for Christmas!" and he was dripping from his eyes.

I replied to him, saying, "___, just to know that you are happy is all the Christmas present I need." Then I gave him a big hug. He wore his almost-new clothes all day, and then went home to show his mom.

The last day before break was when we had a Christmas celebration with cookies, cake, and candy, along with watching a kids' movie. ___ wore his almost-new clothes, and the day went smoothly. At the end of the day, I walked the kids out to the bus, and said good-bye for two weeks.

I returned to my classroom, and on my desk was a very well-loved pink stuffed animal, which was smudged and it was missing an eye. Under it was a piece of notebook paper, upon which ___ wrote, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lewis. From ___."

I just sat down and had a little cry, with tears of joy and gratitude. 

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