Yes Virgina, there is Christmas spirit

The shopping trip was successful. The worst part was was the ride on the highway. I hate the highways here. Three to five lanes across and every lane filled with the throbbing trucks and weaving traffic. It's not fun to drive.

I was going to take the secondary road but I got a late start and the old Ford pickup in front of me, with an even older driver, was going 30 miles an hour in the 55 zone and the passing zones are far and few between. Besides, he was weaving a little. I had a feeling he might be drunk. When the entrance came up, I just jumped on the fast road.

It was worth going out though. I found everything I needed and there were no long lines of surly shoppers in the stores I went to. In fact I had a moment of true Christmas spirit. I went into a store that was going out of business. It was down almost to the bare walls but I cruised through anyway. You never know when you're going to find a really great angel. I didn't but on the way out, there was a woman holding a really nice creche. I asked her if that the last one even though it would have been hard to miss if there had been another.

She said there were two and she couldn't decide which one she wanted but the woman in front of her took the other one while she was deciding, so the decision was made for her. It was a really nice creche. Traditional wooden stable with thatch on the roof and good quality figures. I said it was too bad, because I would have bought one for my kids. That's what I call my daughter and son-in-law even though of course, they're middle aged. Our old one disappeared and it would have made a good gift. They're so hard to buy for.

I kept walking and she called after me and said she would give it to me if I wanted it because it was for my kids. I was so touched by that gesture. Of course, I didn't take it but I thanked her for blessing me with such a beautiful Christmas spirit moment. That's so rare in this frantic consumer age, with people killing each other electronics, for someone to make such a kind offer. It just knocked me out.

I told her she made my Christmas. I meant it. This is what Christmas is all about folks. It's not about fancy gifts. It's about sharing. It's about doing something unexpectedly nice for a stranger, just because it's Christmas.