Once Upon A Christmas Eve ©

I remember one Christmas Eve way back when.
Some of the guys stopped by on the 23rd and asked me what I was up to on Christmas.
I told them I usually go to my parents for dinner.
They were wondering because they had no place to go.
One of them had spent most of his adult Christmases in jail. I told them I couldn’t help them because my parents were expecting me.
I could see the disappointment on their faces.
I must admit I know what it is like to be alone at a time when you’re used to being with family.
Our memories of when we were kids during the holidays never go away. It was an innocent time for all.
Even hardened criminals have that feeling around the Christmas holidays.
They were kids once after all.
I asked them what they were doing Christmas eve and if they wanted we could have a Christmas Eve dinner and bring in Christmas.
They were happy to hear that and even offered to supply the meat for the dinner.
So it was all set.
They would drop off the meat in the morning and I would cook it for us to eat that night.

The next morning there was a knock at the door early in the morning and I MEAN it was early, 5am.
Taking my burgerizer from the back of the door, I went to see who it was.
It was them at my door.
I told them they were to early.
They just stopped off to drop off the meat.
Yes, the meat.
A WHOLE side of BEEF!!!!!!!!
It seems they had done some after hours shopping and walked away with two sides of beef.
I asked them where the other one was and they said they gave it away.
They left and I went back to bed.
That afternoon I spent hours cutting up the meat.
I’m not the world’s greatest butcher but I manage to get what I need.
The phone rang and the guys asked if the could bring some people and said yes and that I was going to invite anyone who wanted to come by too.
So now it was snowballing into a party.
I cut up the meat into roasts I figured I could cut them into steaks another time.
I saved the whole rib roast for dinner that night.
That night there must have been 20 people at the house having dinner and having a great time.
It must have been 4am when everyone finally left and we went to bed so that we could get up and go to my parents for Christmas dinner.
But everyone had a great time.
I know this because I could remember it with a smile.
But you know what is making me smile even more right now?
It’s what I read in the newspaper two days later.
In the city section it said.

Yesterday morning at the local Salvation Army, workers arrived at work to find a side of beef leaning up against the door.
It came at an opportune time because there has been a shortage of food this season.
They would like to thank the anonymous donor.



Walker