She Wants Him To Be Happy

Here’s another new favorite real Christmas story of my life. It is a story within a story. Like Storyception. This one is brought to you by my Grandpa Ferrell’s Family Christmas Party.

This Christmas will be our fourth Christmas as a family without my Grandma. The past Christmases at Grandpa’s house has seemed to be more like going through the motions, mingled with a couple moments of feeling my grandma near. This year has been pretty different.

This year, Grandpa put up the Celestial tree.

This year Grandpa is a different and even better man.

This year Grandpa has a very different and yet very special lady in his life.

The Celestial tree was a sacred tree for my Grandma. I’m not sure I know the whole story about the Celestial tree but there are a few things I do know. One, It is the purest white of all trees with white lights, white ornaments, and you know it’s sacred when you see it in the corner of the living room. Two, we put the gifts we are giving to Christ underneath its branches. And three, we haven’t seen the Celestial tree since Grandma died. I have so many memories of grandma’s special Christmas stories around the Celestial tree while all of us grandchildren sat on the floor in front of her. One story was a particular tradition, but I’ll let Aunt Denise tell you about it later in the story.

At our fun family party, Grandpa asked for our attention before he blessed the food. The room went quiet. Even with a full house and many small great-grandchildren, everyone knows that when Grandpa is about to say something, you better listen because whatever story comes out of his mouth will amaze, inspire, and change your life. Everyone also knows that when Grandpa is about to say something, you better get cozy, because it will probably be a while. But I don’t think any of us mind too much.

“I want all of you to know somethin’. This year, I wasn’t going to put up Christmas. I wasn’t going to put up the tree, the lights, the decorations. I wasn’t going to have a party or make any food. I was just going to let someone else do it. I didn’t want the trouble. It was just too much.

“Then LaVern asked me, ‘Neil, don’t you have any family traditions?’ I said, ‘well yeah. With Vee, we had traditions…’ Then LaVern said to me, ‘Well don’t you think you ought to keep those traditions going, for your family?’ I thought about that and I knew I felt the Spirit telling me I needed to do it. I didn’t really want to and it was hard, but I just did it anyway because I knew it was what I was supposed to do.

“Grandma used to gather us around the Celestial tree. I put it up. Mark helped me put it together. LaVern decorated it. She used to tell all the children a Christmas story.”

Aunt Denise asked if she could tell the story. She’s a great story teller for little kids. Her eyes got wide. I could feel her mom so proud of her, carrying on her legacy for her. “Once upon a time, there was a little boy. His birthday was coming up and he was SO excited. He couldn’t wait for his big party. He had invited everyone, people from near and far, old and young, rich and poor. Finally the day of the party came. Sure enough, people from all over the world showed up for the little boy’s birthday party. They brought big gifts with bows and ribbons. Others brought smiles and small gifts. There were packages of ever size and shape and color. After everyone had arrived the people began to play games and chat with each other. But no one seemed to want to talk to the little boy. They ignored him and laughed with each other. The little boy didn’t seem to mind. He was happy they were there. But he longed to play with the others. He longed for someone to find him important enough to talk to. It was his birthday and his party after all. Finally it became time to open presents, but to his surprise, one by one, each person handed their gifts to another and others took some from others. Noise broke out with ‘That one’s mine!’ and ‘This one is for you!’ But no one gave the birthday boy any presents. The boy felt forgotten and sad. Didn’t anyone know who he was? At Christmastime, we celebrate Jesus Christ’s birthday. And here we are at this party together. Let’s remember whose birthday this is and make sure that we talk to Him, and invite him in our games and conversation. Let’s make sure that we give Him special gifts like we give to each other.”

“I have here,” said Grandpa, holding up a basket. “little pieces of folded paper. I want each of you during the night at this party some time, to go off by yourself and discuss with your Father in Heaven what you are going to give to the Savior. I want you to write it on that paper and put it in the envelope. I’m going to put them under the Celestial tree on Christmas Eve night. Now, as a Ferrell, when you write something down and say you are going to give that gift to the Lord, I expect you to really do it. It is important to me that you do what you say you are going to do. I might even follow up with you.

“I can tell you, my wonderful family, I have felt the Spirit so strong. I feel your grandma here with us. I think this, all of this, is what she wants for us. She wants us to be happy.

“She wants Me to be happy…"

Then he cried.

The rest of the story goes like this:

There is a HUGE box under the tree. It has LaVern’s name on it. It is very heavy… because it is filled with packing peanuts and a box of steel, and…

A tiny little ring box. . .

“She wants (him) to be happy.”