Actually, this story has nothing to do with school shows or science assemblies, so if you are seeking ideas for school assemblies or a science assembly, well ... today (just today!) you have come to the wrong place!

This story goes back to something that happened to me some years back. I sent a letter about it to a Detroit Free Press columnist at the time, the late and greatly missed Bob Talbert, and he wrote it up in his column. He did a great job, but this is how I remember it.

The story goes like this...

A few years back (well, many years, to be truthful), my lovely wife and I happened to be in the wrong place on Christmas Eve. We should, of course, have been at home, with all the decorations up, presents wrapped, kids sleeping, and everything cozy and ready for Christmas morning. Ha! Instead, we were, as our usual disorganized selves, out at Meijer doing some last minute shopping. For those of you not from Michigan, Meijer is a Michigan based chain of large “big-box” stores that is now spread throughout several midwestern states.

Anyway, my wife was busy comparison shopping in one area of the store that held no particular interest for me so I strolled over to the toy aisles (my kids were still small back then... actually, my daughter may not have even been born yet).

In the toy car aisle was a man with a shopping cart. He was steadily selecting one after another from the pegs of Matchbox cars hanging there. He must have had fifty cars in the basket. I could not help but notice, and when he glanced at me I smiled and ventured that he must be a collector.

He thought for a moment, and then he said “ No, I am not. Do you have a second?”

Well, I figured with the way my wife (bless her heart) shops, I probably had a lot of seconds, so I said yes.

And here is what he told me:

“My friend runs a gas station out on Highland Road. They sell Christmas Trees this time of year. A week or so ago he notices this kid looking at the trees. After a bit, the kid comes in and asks how much the trees are. So he gives him a price range, and the kid goes running back out to an beat up old station wagon that is getting gas. One of those that looks like it has been to heck and back. The driver looked to be his Mom. Had the look of somebody that has worked really hard but never caught a break. He speaks to her for a second, and then she says something, and then the kid gets real quiet and he goes around and gets into the car and they drive away. Occurred to my friend they could not afford a tree.

Well, a few days later, my friend spots the kid looking at the trees again. This time there was no sign of the car or the Mom. So my friend walks out onto the lot, pretending to be doing something else, and he picks up a small tree. He says to the kid that this particular tree is a little beat up and he can’t sell it and asks if the kid knows anyone who would like it. The kid can’t believe his ears, and he stutters out a reply that he would like it. Says he doesn't live far and he can just carry it home.

Well, a day or two go by, and then... and this was just yesterday... the woman slips into the station, and puts a kinda crumpled envelope on the counter. Doesn’t say anything... just kind of stares, with a real slight twitch at the corner of her mouth, like she is trying to smile but can’t quite remember how. Then she gets embarrassed and runs out. On the outside of the envelope someone had written "Thank You". Well here is what was in the envelope...”

And at that, my “Matchbox” friend held out a photo showing a scrawny kid, maybe nine years old, standing proudly next to a slightly crooked Christmas tree on which there was one single ornament hanging, you know, the kind kids make in school in art class. The kid looked as happy as if he was standing next to the tree in Rockefeller Center

“So,” he said to me, “Yesterday I was at the station and we saw the car go by. Figured they had to live close so I followed them. It’s a trailer park a couple of blocks down from the station. It’s pretty grim. Single Mom and three kids. My friend stopped by last night and took them some groceries. I am going to drop off some toys and food and some other stuff tonight. No way those kids are waking up tomorrow without some stuff under that tree.”

Well, I am normally a bit of an old curmudgeon, but I asked him if I might offer to help pay for some of the “gifts”, but he would not hear of it. 

I thanked him, though, not just for what he was doing, but also for helping one old sinner remember, on Christmas Eve, what Christmas was all about. May none of us ever forget.

And, with that, from all of us here at Mobile Ed Productions, to all of you, may your Christmas be Merry, your Hanukkah be Happy, your Kwanzaa be Kwazy and your Winter Solstice celebrations, whatever your faith, be filled with love and joy. Happy New Year, too!

Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN.