Our first Christmas without Thunder
This is being told through the eyes of Trent Malloy. Hope all of you enjoy this heart touching Christmas story. Don't need to tell you the drill.
I can't believe this is our first Christmas without my dad, Thunder Malloy. My mom, Katie Malloy is trying to make this a good Christmas for all of us, but I know inside it's hard on her. Also, it's hard on both Tyler and Tandy.
Just a couple of days ago, I took the two to see Santa. It nearly broke my heart when I heard Tandy's reply to Santa's question. "What would you like Santa to bring you?" She looked up at him as the tears fell down her cheeks. "I want to see my daddy again. He's up in heaven." Santa looked over at me. I didn't quite know what to say. Santa put his arm around Tandy's shoulder. "Well honey, I'm not sure if I can manage that." I heard Santa tell her.
He then turned to Tyler and asked him the same question. I had a pretty good idea on what his reply was going to be. "And, how about you? What would you like ol' Santa to bring you?" was the question I heard. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever imagine what Tyler asked for. "I'd also like to see my daddy. I know it's probably impossible. But, you're Santa Clause and you can make anything happen." Tyler told him.
When they were done, the two ran over to me. "Well? Did you tell Santa what you wanted for Christmas?" I asked. The two nodded their heads. "We did and both asked for the same thing, even though I know it'll probably be impossible." Tyler told me. "Oh? And what did the two of you ask for?" I asked in a curious voice. Tandy spoke up. "Both of us asked to see daddy again." Tandy replied.
The three of us found a bench and sat down. Tyler was sitting next to me and Tandy was sitting on my lap. "You know guys, what you asked Santa for is nearly impossible." I explained to them. "We know Trent." Tandy told me. I could see the tears welling up in her eyes as well as Tyler. I put my arms around the two as I held them close. I could feel the tears falling down my own face as I sat there with them. "I know that the two of you miss him, so do I. I...I just wish there was someway of seeing him again. But, there isn't." I told them.
"But daddy always reads the Christmas story to us. It's a tradition." Tandy told me. "Well, looks like it's going to be me that'll do the honors this year." I replied. Both of them gave me a surprised look. "You?" Tyler said in a surprised voice. I nodded my head. "Sure, I've heard that story so many times that I can recite it without even getting the book out." I said with a grin.
Later on that day, all of us helped get the tree decorated. I noticed mom was looking for something. I walked over to her. "Looking for something mom?" I asked. Mom nodded her head. "I'm trying to find that star to put on top of the tree. Your father gave that to me on our first Christmas." Mom replied.
I helped her by looking in other boxes. After about an hour of searching, mom sat down and put her head in her hands. "Well, we've gone through every box and there's no sign of it. I guess when we got rid of the tree last year it probably went out with it." Mom said, her voice sounding sad. I shook my head. "I'm sure it's around here somewhere mom." I told her in a reassuring voice.
When Christmas Eve finally came, all of us left to go to the Christmas Eve services. Roscoe Jones, a close friend of the family gave a great sermon on the true meaning of Christmas. Inside, I had a hunch that the star mom and I were looking for would be found and in a place we wouldn't have thought of looking.
After the services, we came home and much to mom's surprise, there was the star on top of our tree. "What in the world? It wasn't there when we left. How do you suppose it got there?" Mom asked in a surprised voice. I had an idea on how it got there. Just then Tandy heard the small bell on the tree ring. "Daddy's got his wings! Whenever an angel gets their wings, a bell would ring." Tandy said in an excited voice. I put my hand on Tandy's shoulder. "I think your right honey." I told her.
After the three younger ones went to bed, mom and I sat in the kitchen talking. "It's still puzzling me about the star. We looked in all the Christmas boxes and couldn't find it, yet it showed up on top of the tree." Mom said in a puzzled voice. "I don't know mom. Maybe dad did have something to do with it. I'll see you in the morning." I said as I got up, kissed her on the cheek and went to bed. Mom sat there for a few minutes, then came out to the living room. She looked up at the tree as tears filled her eyes.
"Thunder Malloy? Did you have something to do with this?" Mom asked. The star barely moved as if it were answering her. "You have a good Christmas too, Thunder. I'm guessing in some mysterious way, you had a part in making sure the star you gave me for our first Christmas would always be there on top of our tree." Mom said.
Merry Christmas to all
And God Bless us everyone!