An Angel Among Us

I come from a large family of nine brothers and sisters, and all of us have kids of our own. On each Christmas night, our entire family gathers at my oldest sister's home, exchanging gifts, watching the nativity skit put on by the smaller children, eating, singing and enjoying a visit from Santa himself.

The Christmas of 1988, my husband Bob and I had four children. Peter was eleven, Leigh-Ann was nine, Laura was six and Matthew was two. When Santa arrived, Matthew parked himself on Santa's lap and pretty much remained dazzled by him for the rest of the evening. Anyone who had their picture taken with Santa that Christmas also had their picture taken with little Matthew.

Little did any of us know how precious those photos with Santa and Matthew would become. Five days after Christmas, our sweet little Matthew died in an accident at home. We were devastated. We were lucky to have strong support from our families and friends to help us through. I learned that the first year after a death is the hardest, as there are so many firsts to get through without your loved one. Birthdays and special occasions become sad, instead of joyous.

When our first Christmas without Matthew approached, it was hard for me to get into the holiday spirit. Bob and I could hardly face putting up the decorations or shopping for special gifts for everyone. But we went through the motions for Peter, Leigh-Ann and Laura. Then, on December 13, something extraordinary happened to raise our spirits when we didn't think it was possible.

We were just finishing dinner when we heard a knock on the front door. When we went to answer it, no one was there. However, on the front porch was a card and gift. We opened the card and read that the gift-giver wanted to remain anonymous; he or she just wanted to help us get through a rough time by cheering us up.

In the gift bag was a cassette of favorite Christmas music, which was in a little cardboard Christmas tree. The card described it as being "a cartridge in a pine tree," a twist on the "partridge in a pear tree" verse in the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." We thought that it was a very clever gift, and the thoughtfulness of our "elf" touched our hearts. We put the cassette in our player and, song by song, the spirit of Christmas began to warm our hearts.

That was the beginning of a series of gifts from the clever giver, one for each day until Christmas. Each gift followed the theme of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in a creative way. The kids especially liked "seven swans a-swimming," which was a basket of swan-shaped soaps plus passes to the local swimming pool, giving the kids something to look forward to when the warm days of spring arrived. "Eight maids a-milking" included eight bottles of chocolate milk, eggnog and regular milk in glass bottles with paper faces, handmade aprons and caps. Every day was something very special. The "five golden rings" came one morning just in time for breakfast - five glazed doughnuts just waiting to be eaten.

We would get calls from our family, neighbors and friends who would want to know what we had received that day. Together, we would chuckle at the ingenuity and marvel at the thoughtfulness as we enjoyed each surprise. We were so caught up in the excitement and curiosity of what would possibly come next, that our grief didn't have much of a chance to rob us of the spirit of Christmas. What our elf did was absolutely miraculous.

Each year since then, as we decorate our Christmas tree, we place on it the decorations we received that Christmas while we play the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas." We give thanks for our elf who was, we finally realized, our very own Christmas angel. We never did find out who it was, although we have our suspicions. We actually prefer to keep it that way. It remains a wondrous and magical experience - as mysterious and blessed as the very first Christmas.

1 skit

n.滑稽短劇;一群

參考例句：

The comic skIt sent up the foolishness of young men in love.那幅畫(huà)把沉溺于熱戀中的青年男子的癡態(tài)勾勒得滑稽可笑。

They performed a skit to amuse the crowd.他們表演了一個(gè)幽默小品來(lái)娛樂(lè)觀眾。

2 devastated

v.徹底破壞( devastate的過(guò)去式和過(guò)去分詞);摧毀;毀滅;在感情上(精神上、財(cái)務(wù)上等)壓垮adj.毀壞的;極為震驚的

參考例句：

The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 這顆炸彈炸毀了舊城的一大片地方。

His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到極為震驚。

3 joyous

adj.充滿快樂(lè)的;令人高興的

參考例句：

The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.輕快的舞蹈給這場(chǎng)戲渲染了歡樂(lè)氣氛。

They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他們把這一佳音很快地傳遞給我們。

4 anonymous

adj.無(wú)名的;匿名的;無(wú)特色的

參考例句：

Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行為。

The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公開(kāi)。

5 cartridge

n.彈殼，彈藥筒;(裝磁帶等的)盒子

參考例句：

Unfortunately the 2G cartridge design is very difficult to set accurately.不幸地2G彈藥筒設(shè)計(jì)非常難正確地設(shè)定。

This rifle only holds one cartridge.這支來(lái)復(fù)槍只能裝一發(fā)子彈。

6 aprons

圍裙( apron的名詞復(fù)數(shù) ); 停機(jī)坪，臺(tái)口(舞臺(tái)幕前的部份)

參考例句：

Many people like to wear aprons while they are cooking. 許多人做飯時(shí)喜歡系一條圍裙。

The chambermaid in our corridor wears blue checked gingham aprons. 給我們掃走廊的清潔女工圍藍(lán)格圍裙。

7 glazed

adj.光滑的，像玻璃的;上過(guò)釉的;呆滯無(wú)神的v.裝玻璃( glaze的過(guò)去式);上釉于，上光;(目光)變得呆滯無(wú)神

參考例句：

eyes glazed with boredom 厭倦無(wú)神的眼睛

His eyes glazed over at the sight of her. 看到她時(shí)，他的目光就變得呆滯。 來(lái)自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》

8 chuckle

vi./n.輕聲笑，咯咯笑

參考例句：

He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他輕輕地笑著搖了搖頭。

I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到這個(gè)，我忍不住輕輕地笑起來(lái)。

9 ingenuity

n.別出心裁;善于發(fā)明創(chuàng)造

參考例句：

The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那個(gè)小男孩做玩具很有創(chuàng)造力。

I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我欽佩你的別出心裁和毅力。

10 marvel

vi.(at)驚嘆vt.感到驚異;n.令人驚異的事

參考例句：

The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.機(jī)器人是現(xiàn)代工程技術(shù)的奇跡。

The operation was a marvel of medical skill.這次手術(shù)是醫(yī)術(shù)上的一個(gè)奇跡。

11 miraculous

adj.像奇跡一樣的，不可思議的

參考例句：

The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.傷員奇跡般地痊愈了。

They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他們戰(zhàn)勝了遠(yuǎn)比自己強(qiáng)大的敵人，贏得了非凡的勝利。

12 remains

n.剩余物，殘留物;遺體，遺跡

參考例句：

He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。

The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.殘羹剩飯喂狗了。

13 wondrous

adj.令人驚奇的，奇妙的;adv.驚人地;異乎尋常地;令人驚嘆地

參考例句：

The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下國(guó)務(wù)院的內(nèi)部結(jié)構(gòu)是很有意思的。

We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我們乘車穿越這片有著湖泊及森林的廣袤而神奇的土地。