Christmas magic in the giving

Gifts bring joy to special adults

Straight talk: This time of year is HARD — not just for me, but for almost everybody. A lot of people I love are gone, a lot of the things I love are so very different, and the world isn’t really a very nice place a lot of the time. It’s easy to just give in to grief.

But on Saturday a couple of weeks ago, I saw the back of a great big SUV full to the brim with Christmas gifts for the adults at the Elizabeth Richardson Center group homes — thanks to a bunch of caring volunteers who shopped, created and gave cash to make their holidays brighter.

Think about this: These are little kids — although they live in adult bodies — a lot of whom don’t have families to go home to at Christmas. Imagine them having no gifts to open on Christmas morning. Imagine.

But they do, because for the past 10 years, you have made it happen. We’ve gone from the 10 kids in the Little Queen’s house to all 30 group home residents and seven more from the day program. THIRTY-SEVEN Christmas miracles. THIRTY-SEVEN!

It all started in 2012, after my college sweetheart had reappeared in my life, made me ecstatically happy, been diagnosed with cancer and died, all in the span of 17 months. Larry and my daughter were two peas in a pod, absolutely delighting in each other’s company. He met the bus, did all the after-school dad things, went with us to theater and bowling and women’s Razorback basketball games and took her around and around (and around and around) the pasture at Granny and Pa’s on the four-wheeler after Pa had passed away. He was there for both of us during the adjustment of her moving in to the Richardson Center group home, and he was a familiar, Santa-looking figure to all of the “kids” until his death.

What better way to honor him than to make Christmas brighter for Amanda’s housemates?! That first year, it was a “yard sale,” with the dining room table full of gifts and toys and hats and scarves and blankets and more that they could “buy” with coins we gave them. And it was a big success!

By the next year, Amanda’s bonus mom had signed on wholeheartedly, and we did a whole Christmas panoply of gifts for all of Amanda’s housemates.

And then Carla looked at me and said, “What about the other two houses?” And 10 became 30. (She says it was my idea. But Carla is the organized one, and I think it was her!)

Over the years, scores of people have “adopted” residents and given them not only the basic things they need — bath gel, towels, pajamas, slippers, scarves — but also the things that will make them happy — NASCAR souvenirs, pro wrestling T-shirts, board games, musical toys and so much more.

And last Sunday, Mrs. Claus (Jonna Summers) and her helper elf (Jude McCoy) visited all three homes and delivered cake and cheer and one of those gifts — saving the rest for Christmas morning. And Missy Speer Gipson and her family sang Christmas carols, as they have for several years. And everybody smiled a genuinely joyous smile — all of us and all of them.

If the holidays are hard for you, may I suggest finding even one tiny way to make someone else’s brighter? I can promise you it will help heal your heart. It’s what gets me through this time of year.