“She watches us play a lot,”
“I think she’s lonely. And tonight is Christmas Eve.
I hope she’s not alone on such a special night.”
“Yeah, me too,” Timothy said.
“We’d better get home,” Ann said.
“It’s going to be dark soon, and we need to eat dinner before we go to church.”
Tommy caught the ball Ann tossed him, and together they trotted off home.
“Wow!
“Puppies?”
“Your Uncle Mickey brought them.
“Awesome!”
“Which one is mine?” Ann asked.
“You can choose,” their mother told them.
Ann and Timothy scooped up the puppies
“They’re precious, aren’t they?”
“They sure are,” Ann said.
“They’ll make great companions.
“Yeah, it was really nice of Uncle Mickey to give them to us.”
Timothy looked over at his sister. “Great companions.”
Ann nodded.
Timothy nodded. “I think so.”
He looked up at his mother.
“You want to give one of the puppies away?”
“Not really, but we kind of noticed that Mrs. Hanson is awful lonely.
“And if we gave her a puppy,
“And because she lives right next door,
“Why, I think that’s a wonderful idea.
Which one will you give her?”
Ann and Timothy pointed to the same puppy.
It was the smaller and quieter one
“We can put a bow on him and take him next door.”
After dinner, Ann and Timothy knocked on Mrs. Hanson’s door.
In a few moments it opened.
Ann held out a plate for her.
Mrs. Hanson took the warm plate
“Thank you! How thoughtful!
“We will,” Ann said.
Timothy stepped forward holding a little
“Merry Christmas, Mrs. Hanson.
He put the squirming puppy in Mrs. Hanson’s arms.
“He’s so precious,”
Timothy continued.
“We want you to come for Christmas dinner with us.”
“We’re having turkey and all the trimmings!”
Ann added.
“Oh, my goodness!”
She gave the children a tearful hug.
Mrs. Hanson held her new puppy in her arms.
The squirming puppy stretched up tall
and put wet kisses on her cheeks.
“I love you too,” she said.
“He can come to dinner too,”
Timothy said.
“And we’re going to church tonight to hear
We’d like you to come with us.”
Mrs. Hanson’s tears began to fall again.
Ann kissed the puppy on the head and said,
Timothy kissed the puppy too.
“Merry Christmas, Mrs. Hanson!”
“It certainly is now!”
I think it’s the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
Ann and Timothy were smiling all the way home.
It was definitely a Merry Christmas.
Their friend and neighbor wasn’t lonely anymore.
by Evelyn Horan
GOOD NEIGHBOR LOVE
A Christmas Gift
“Mrs. Hanson is watching us play catch,”
Timothy said, tossing the ball to his sister.
Ann said, catching the ball and returning it.
“I think Christmas is the most special holiday of the year.”
Where did these puppies come from?”
Timothy asked their mother when he burst through the kitchen door.
Ann said, following closely behind him.
One for each of you.”
Timothy tossed aside his baseball
and squatted down to pet them.
“Which one is mine?”
and cuddled them.
their mother said.
You’ll have a lot of fun with them.”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Mom, do you think maybe we should
give one of the puppies to Mrs. Hanson?”
She sits at her window or on her front porch
a whole lot all by herself.”
she’d have a companion,” Ann said.
the puppies could visit each other.”
And very generous of you.
that looked like it would be a good
companion for their neighbor.
“Our mother sent you some of our
Christmas Eve dinner, Mrs. Hanson.”
“She hopes you enjoy it.”
and smelled the delicious food.
Give your mother a big hug for me.”
reddish-brown puppy with a wide green
ribbon tied around its neck.
Our uncle brought us two puppies
but we thought maybe you would
like to have one.
Would you?”
Mrs. Hanson said softly.
“I’d love to have him.
And I know how to care for him since I’ve had puppies in the past.”
“Mom also said to tell you not to cook tomorrow,”
Mrs. Hanson exclaimed.
“Tell your mother that I said thank you.
I’d love to have Christmas dinner with you.”
the story of the first Christmas.
“Thank you for inviting me.”
She dabbed at her eyes.
“You are all such good neighbors.”
“
We’ll see you in a little while.”
Mrs. Hanson was smiling through her tears. “