Dec. 25th Merry Christmas

We had big plans for Christmas day. Plans that did not involve roasted turkeys or mountains of presents, at least not for us. But rather plans that demonstrated the true meaning of Christmas.

A couple of days ago an elderly Baha'i couple, living in a rural Maine town, lost their home. Their old farmhouse caught fire and burned to the ground. They literally escaped with their lives. All they were left with was minor burns and the clothes on their backs. In the dead of winter. At Christmas time.

So, the plan was simple. We do something for them. We spoke to Mom, after noticing that she had double copies of a number of Baha'i books, and she enthusiastically agreed that this couple should have them. We'd bought scarves for warmth and flowers (pink roses because, according to Anisa, they needed pink flowers) and baked a beautiful banana cake and then all that was left was tracking them down. That would be easy. Or so it was assumed. First they were in the hospital, then wards of the Red Cross, then with friends and a neighbour and then we were advised it would be best to let them be and not overwhelm them so soon (which may have been perfectly reasonable advice, but I still regret taking it) and so that brings us to the fact that the banana cake is currently in the freezer, the much needed pink roses are inexplicably wilting in the vase on the dining room table and the children, rather than making a Christmas mission are currently making a snowman in the front yard.

I hope that the thought still counts and that somehow they will know that there are people out there that they have never met who are thinking of them and wishing them well.