Continuing an annual tradition, I searched the Internet for an inspirational Christmas story.

I hope you enjoy this year's installment.

An Adventure With Grandma

(Author anonymous)

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered at me. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I ran to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous, cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

The clerk at Kerby's came up to me and asked if she could help.

I told her I had to buy a Christmas present for someone who needed one and I was having trouble.

"Can't you think of anyone who really needs something," the clerk asked?

I thought of everybody I knew. My family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in my second-grade class at school. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough. He didn't have a coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

I didn't even think to look how much the coat cost. I was just so happy to be buying the coat for Bobby.

When I gave the coat to the clerk, she smiled and said, "I guess you thought of someone who really needed something."

"Yes," I replied shyly. "It's .... Bobby. The coat's for Bobby."

The clerk took my 10 dollars and put the coat in a bag. I ran to the car, excited to tell Grandma about the coat I bought for Bobby.

Grandma smiled.

When we got back to Grandma's house, she helped me me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons. She cut off the price tag and tucked it in her Bible. We put a little tag on the outside that said, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus."

Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, Grandma, in her wisdom, taught me the true meaning of Christmas.

She instilled in me the spirit of giving that comes from the realization that God, on this special day 2,006 years ago, gave us the greatest gift of all.

Years later I came to understand that Grandma and the clerk at Kerby's General Store were friends.

Grandma has been gone now for many years, but I still have her Bible with the price tag from Bobby Decker's coat tucked inside: $29.95.

Merry Christmas, everybody. And have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2007. [[In-content Ad]]