Two years ago I didn't know whether we would even have a Christmas ....

We had just experienced a house fire that destroyed all our possessions.  Our clothes, furniture, possessions ... everything.  We even lost one of our two cats in the blaze.  It was the worst possible thing that could have ever happened to us.

The only good thing was this: we managed to escape with our lives ... but barely.

What happened was this: our Christmas tree had caught on fire; one of the light strands shorted out and this was what caused the fire.  We didn't know anything about it until the smoke alarm went off in the middle of the night and we could smell (and see) smoke.

It was absolutely terrifying.

We ended up staying at a friend's house, me, my wife, and our three kids, and our cats ... only, to our horror, to discover that one of the cats was missing.  By the time we realized this, it had already been too late.  When I rushed back to the scene, the house was a total loss. 

Our big, burly, beautiful Maine Coon, Chauncey, perished in the fire.  I knew immediately that he was gone.  I cried like a baby.

Well, word got out of our tragic situation; neighbors started appearing on the doorstep of our friend's house, bringing clothes, food, blankets, and anything else they thought that we could use (and need).  They even brought money and told us to go shopping; they would take care of everything (those was their exact words).

We ended up having Christmas after all; it was just at someone else's house.  The kids got a whole sleighful of toys and clothes; the wife and I got clothes, furniture, and the works.  We also got cash totalling over $10,000.  We don't know where all this extra money (or stuff) came from, but one thing was certain: someone cared enough to reach out in our great time of need and someone was clearly watching out over us; why else would we escape the fire relatively unscathed?

~To be continued!~