The Best Holiday
I was unbelievably proud of my nine-year-old daughter. Emily 41 to buy a mountain bike. She’d been saving her pocket money all year, 42 doing small jobs to earn extra money.
By Thanksgiving, she had collected only $49. I said, “You 43 have your pick from my bicycle 44 .” “Thanks, Daddy. But your bikes are so old.” She was right. All my girls’ bikes were 1950’s models, not the kind a kid today would 45 choose.
As Christmas 46 near, Emily and I went bike shopping. As we left one store, she __47 a Salvation Army volunteer standing next to a big pot. “Can we give something, Daddy?” she asked. “Sorry, I’m out of 48 .”
Throughout December, Emily continued to 49 hard. Then one day, she made a __50 announcement. “You know all the money I’ve been saving?” she said hesitantly. “I’m going to give it to the poor people.” So one cold morning before Christmas, Emily handed her total savings of $ 58 to a volunteer who was really very 51 .
52 by Emily’s selflessness, I decided to contribute 53 of my old bicycles to a car dealer who was collecting used bikes for poor children. 54 I selected a shiny model from my collection, however, it seemed as if a second bike took on a glow (发光). Should I contribute two? No, one would be enough. But I couldn’t 55 the feeling that I should give a second bike. When I later 56 the bikes, the car dealer said, “You’re making two kids very __57 , sir. Here are your tickets. For each bicycle contributed, we’re 58 away one chance to win a girls’ mountain bike.”
Why wasn’t I surprised when that second ticket proved to be the 59 ? I like to think it was God’s way of 60 a little girl for a sacrifice beyond her years－while giving her dad a lesson in the process.
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