The Most Surprising Christmas Gift...

Target and TwitterMoms are having a contest. If you blog about the most surprising Christmas present you ever received, you have the chance to win a $100 Target Gift Card. You can find all of the details here.

Now, here's my story about the most surprising Christmas present I ever received, and my entry into the contest:

Several years ago (in fact, we had 2 fewer kids), hubby and I were broke. We had absolutely no way to pay for Christmas. Hubby was in a high-paying job, but they had cut his hours to nothing. We didn't know how we were even going to have Christmas that year. We decided that each of the kids would get 2 presents each. One from us, and one from the other kids. "Santa" that year came from our local school district. Someone had given them our names, and the families in the school district purchased gifts for our kids. It was such a blessing to us that year, and took so much stress off of us.

On Christmas morning, we got up, and there was an extra box under the tree. It was a really large box, too. I looked at hubby, and he just smiled. I knew immediately that he was up to something. The kids opened their presents, and then I had hubby open his. (I had made him a large photo collage of the kids that year.) Then, he handed me the large mystery box marked, "To: Angie, From: Santa." It was so heavy!

I carefully pulled off the paper, and opened the box to find the coat that I had seen in the mall months earlier. When I asked him "How?" he smiled and said, "I'll tell you later."

It turned out that he had been saving his lunch money ($10/week) for months to get me that coat. I had no idea, and that coat is still my favorite one to wear when it gets cold. And every time I put it on, I still think about how much hubby sacrificed to get me that coat.

I am so blessed to have such a caring and thoughtful husband. I only hope that one day I can do something just as special for him.