温馨夜读II PART2 3.The Giving Trees（打印版）

[00:00.40]3.The Giving Trees

[00:03.88]I was a single parent of four small children.

[00:08.13]Money was always tight, but what we had, if not a lot, was always enough.

[00:13.90]My kids told me that in those days they didn’t know we were poor.

[00:18.15]It was Christmas time, and although there wasn’t money for a lot of gifts, we had our plans to celebrate.

[00:24.79]The big excitement for the kids was the fun of Christmas shopping at the mall.

[00:28.71]They talked and planned for weeks ahead of time, asking each other and their grandparents what they wanted for Christmas.

[00:35.24]I dreaded it. I only saved $120 for all five of us.

[00:41.78]The big day arrived and we started out early.

[00:44.93]I gave each of the four kids a twenty dollar bill and reminded them to look for gifts about four dollars each.

[00:51.90]Then everyone scattered.

[00:53.87]We had two hours to shop; and then we would meet back at the “Santa’s workshop” display.

[00:59.09]Back in the car driving home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits,

[01:04.54]laughing and teasing each other with hints and clues about what they had bought.

[01:09.55]My younger daughter, Ginger, who was about eight years old, was unusually quiet.

[01:15.54]I noticed she had only one small, flat bag with her after her shopping spree.

[01:21.52]I could see enough through the plastic bag to tell that she had bought candy bars — fifty-cent candy bars!

[01:29.26]I was so angry.

[01:31.54]What did you do with that twenty dollar bill I gave you?

[01:34.81]I wanted to yell at her, but I didn’t say anything until we got home.

[01:39.17]I called her into my bedroom and closed the door, ready to be angry again when I asked her what she had done with the money.

[01:46.46]This is what she told me:

[01:48.97]“I was looking around, thinking of what to buy,

[01:53.54]and I stopped to read the little cards on one of the Salvation Army’s ‘Giving Trees.’

[01:58.33]One of the cards was for a little girl, four years old,

[02:03.02]and all she wanted for Christmas was a doll with clothes and a hairbrush.

[02:08.37]So I took the card off the tree and bought the doll and hairbrush for her and took it to the Salvation Army booth.

[02:16.25]“I only had enough money left to buy candy bars for us,” Ginger continued.

[02:21.60]“But we have so much and she doesn’t have anything.”

[02:26.09]I never felt so rich as I did that day.