"Shhhh", my father said as we entered the house, "they're all asleep."
My plane was supposed to arrive at 11:45 which would have had me walking through the door at about 12:30. At 2 am we were stepping out of my father's truck and walking up to the door. Tiptoing up the steps behind my father who was walking bull-legged for some reason in his efforts to be quiet I snuck up into my parents room.
"What are you making for dinner tomorrow?", I asked my mother as I woke her up.
She looked at me like she was pissed off and then noticed who I was and gave me a hug and a kiss. She told me later that she had thought it was my father waking her up and "playing games".
We all went to my sister Jessica's room after to get the next victim. i noticed that her bed had doubled in size and that the colors in the room were different. She was curled up in the fetal position with her hands pressed together between her legs. The blankets were half covering her body and half on then floor.
"Did you do all of your homework?", I asked her.
She turned around immediately and gave me a hug. She said she knew exactly who it was from my voice and that she thought that I was coming home early but didn't know when.
I changed up my approach for my other sister Alyssa. Grabbing her by the side of the head I forceably laid a kiss on her forehead. When I pulled away she looked at me with a look of disgust before she realized who was kissing her. And she screamed and hugged me and we all went downstairs to talk at two in the morning on a school night.
We talked about many things but one story stuck in my head in this Christmas season. my sister Jessica was taking care of these kids at the gym when she asked one little girl what it was that she was asking for Christmas. The little girl said that she was not asking for anything because her mother had to use all the money that she got to buy food. then she realized that was asking for something and took that back. She was asking for a disposable camera. That was all that she wanted for Christmas. And she wasn't even sure if she was going to get that.
My sister, having the big heart that she does decided to buy all 5 of the kids in the family a present with some money contributed by my other sister. She told my mother about it and my mother also decided to buy all the kids a present. My whole family contributed to the cause in some way. My father was dressing up like Santa to deliver the presents. My mother told her friend Judy who decided that to buy them all a little something and told McDonalds who conducted a fundraising campaign is also donating presents and a dinner.
All in all the family is going to have a good Christmas and my sister is a big reason for it. As people were bringing presents into the house this morning, my sister sorted through them all deciding which presents were going to who. She was so adamant about making sure that each member of the family got the right presents. I think it was the first thing that she's ever done that really meant something to her.
I kept picturing the look on those kids’ faces when they saw that they were getting more than just food this Christmas. I pictured them lighting up when my father came to the door and feast that they would have and how happy they would actually be for one year at Christmas time. And then it made all of my worried seem insignificant and I wanted to go and buy them something too. I wanted to go over and tell them all that I loved them and that everything was going to be all right and ask them to move in with me.
The love has been carrying me through the day. It's nice to know for one Christmas the Dianni family had joined together to give happiness in others.
My plane was supposed to arrive at 11:45 which would have had me walking through the door at about 12:30. At 2 am we were stepping out of my father's truck and walking up to the door. Tiptoing up the steps behind my father who was walking bull-legged for some reason in his efforts to be quiet I snuck up into my parents room.
"What are you making for dinner tomorrow?", I asked my mother as I woke her up.
She looked at me like she was pissed off and then noticed who I was and gave me a hug and a kiss. She told me later that she had thought it was my father waking her up and "playing games".
We all went to my sister Jessica's room after to get the next victim. i noticed that her bed had doubled in size and that the colors in the room were different. She was curled up in the fetal position with her hands pressed together between her legs. The blankets were half covering her body and half on then floor.
"Did you do all of your homework?", I asked her.
She turned around immediately and gave me a hug. She said she knew exactly who it was from my voice and that she thought that I was coming home early but didn't know when.
I changed up my approach for my other sister Alyssa. Grabbing her by the side of the head I forceably laid a kiss on her forehead. When I pulled away she looked at me with a look of disgust before she realized who was kissing her. And she screamed and hugged me and we all went downstairs to talk at two in the morning on a school night.
We talked about many things but one story stuck in my head in this Christmas season. my sister Jessica was taking care of these kids at the gym when she asked one little girl what it was that she was asking for Christmas. The little girl said that she was not asking for anything because her mother had to use all the money that she got to buy food. then she realized that was asking for something and took that back. She was asking for a disposable camera. That was all that she wanted for Christmas. And she wasn't even sure if she was going to get that.
My sister, having the big heart that she does decided to buy all 5 of the kids in the family a present with some money contributed by my other sister. She told my mother about it and my mother also decided to buy all the kids a present. My whole family contributed to the cause in some way. My father was dressing up like Santa to deliver the presents. My mother told her friend Judy who decided that to buy them all a little something and told McDonalds who conducted a fundraising campaign is also donating presents and a dinner.
All in all the family is going to have a good Christmas and my sister is a big reason for it. As people were bringing presents into the house this morning, my sister sorted through them all deciding which presents were going to who. She was so adamant about making sure that each member of the family got the right presents. I think it was the first thing that she's ever done that really meant something to her.
I kept picturing the look on those kids’ faces when they saw that they were getting more than just food this Christmas. I pictured them lighting up when my father came to the door and feast that they would have and how happy they would actually be for one year at Christmas time. And then it made all of my worried seem insignificant and I wanted to go and buy them something too. I wanted to go over and tell them all that I loved them and that everything was going to be all right and ask them to move in with me.
The love has been carrying me through the day. It's nice to know for one Christmas the Dianni family had joined together to give happiness in others.
