Choose Your Wishes Carefully

   The prospects for a Merry Christmas in the Jones household looked pretty grim this year; at least as far as gift giving was concerned. The company where Henry worked had cut out all its overtime, which the Joneses depended on for anything above their food and monthly bills. And even though Henry's wife, Thelma, took a part-time job evenings, it seemed her paycheck was always needed for some emergency-like a broken tooth, new shoes for the children, a tonsilectomy, etc, etc. With six children in the house, there was always something to drain the finances.
  The kids were wonderful about understanding the situation. The older children helped with the babies while Thelma worked, and even straightened up the house after the smaller children went to bed so she wouldn't have to come home to the clutter children just naturally seem to make. As for Henry, he appreciated what Thelma was doing and helped around the house all he could too. All in all, the spirit of cooperation in the Jones family was a thing of beauty.
  Lately, after all the children were asleep, Henry and Thelma would sit down and try to figure a way to put aside a few dollars so they could surprise the children with a few gifts for Christmas. "Boy", Thelma said for the umpteenth time in her life, "if only we could win one of those sweepstakes I'm always entering. Somebody has to win them-why can't it be us for a change?" "You know we don't have that kind of luck," Henry answered, "but as long as we have each other and the children, we're rich, honey." "I know that dear. But it just seems there are so many things we need. The house needs painting, all the doors need fixing. The furniture needs slipcovers or something to cover the worn spots. And the kids haven't had any new clothes in ages. Our neighbors are wonderful to bring the clothes their children have outgrown, but sometimes I feel like we're the Goodwill headquarters in this town, with everyone dropping their clothes off here."
  "I can understand how you feel, " Henry replied, "but once the overtime starts again, we'll be able to get on our feet and get all the things we need, even if it might be only a little at a time. Thank God we have our health and both have jobs. There are a lot of others worse off than we are right now." "You're right, of course, and I guess I shouldn't complain. But there's something about Christmas that makes you want to give your children at least some of the things they've been wishing for all year."
  For the next two weeks, nothing eventful happened-but on a Monday morning just two weeks before Christmas, a. Telegram was delivered to the Jones door. "Congratulations, you are the Grand Prize Winner in the McNeally Co. Sweepstakes. Details will follow." Thelma was home alone with the two smallest children when the telegram came. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry-or even whether to believe it for that matter. But before she could fully compose herself, a man from the McNeally Company was at her door and calmly announced that her family had indeed won the $100,000 grand prize.
  Thelma called Henry at work and could barely get the words straight, she was so excited. At first he thought it was some kind of joke, but when Mr. Clark of the McNealy Co. Got on the phone and assured him it was a fact, he said he'd be right home. When Henry told the men in work about his good luck, he thought they didn't look as pleased as he felt they should. But with everyone facing hard times, he figured it wasn't too easy to get excited over someone else's luck.
  On the way home Henry mentally pictured himself in the new car he'd be riding after he got the money. He even went so far as to envision a speedboat for the summer-after all, $100,000 is an awful lot of money. And of course they'd get a new house instead of trying to fix up the old one. The way his mind was running, he'd have that money spent in no time.
  When he got home he found that Thelma had just as many ideas about how to spend the money. The only trouble was, their ideas were poles apart. The older children also had ideas, and before long everyone was telling everyone else why his or her ideas were "all wet". It was really the first time the family was so divided about anything.
  With Christmas so close, though, they decided to worry about the big purchases after the holidays. In the meantime, everyone was to make up his own Christmas list and each would decide what to get for the others from the "Christmas allowance" allotted to each member of the family.
  Thelma hoped Henry would get her the mink coat, which was on her list. Henry hoped Thelma would get him the boat he always wished for. The children's lists ran from model toy trains with full layout and equipment, to toy fire engines that ran with real motors and dolls that had absolutely everything.
  Christmas morning came, and everyone got pretty much what they asked for. But for some reason, there was something about this Christmas that lacked the spirit of Christmases past. None of the gifts seemed to have a part of the giver in them. Thelma felt a little guilty about owning a mink coat when she really had no special place to wear it. Especially when she thought of the many people who would be wearing coats that either didn't fit right or even keep them very warm. Henry couldn't help feeling cheated because Thelma didn't know enough about boats to get him the one he really wanted. Robert the oldest boy who wanted the complete train layout, realized that he had more fun with the one he made last year from scraps of wood for houses and paper he shaped mountains with. The other children felt something was missing too, but little Karla seemed to sum it up best when she went to bed not with the fancy doll with all the clothes changes, but rather with the soft rag doll her mother had made for her last Christmas.

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        The fellow who gets on a high horse, is riding for a fall.

Published December 1973 or 1974