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Letter: An angel delivered great joy to my family during a tough Christmas

The broken pieces of an ornament come together to make something even more special

Dear Editor,

I have a story that I hope will lift everyone’s spirits.

My daughter gave my husband Ken, a longtime West Coast fisherman who now has Alzheimer’s disease, a special Christmas tree ornament a couple years ago. As I was putting it on the tree this year, it broke into a million pieces. Miraculously, two pieces remained intact, and they had the ornament’s words written on them.

I glued them onto another ornament and thought it made the ornament even more special, so I decided I would make one for each of my kids. Bear in mind arts and crafts are not a strong suit of mine. 

As I wandered through Dollarama, I got into conversation with a woman. It turns out she was “crafty,” so she was explaining how I should go about making the ornaments. 

We had parted ways but she came back to me and said she would like to make them for me. 

We went back and forth a few times and it seemed they were not turning out the way she had hoped. I hadn’t heard from her for a couple weeks but I believed in her. All I knew was her first name and that she’s a front-line worker. 

A few days before Christmas she texted me that the ornaments were waiting for me at her work. I picked up the package and when I got home and realized what she had done, I was overwhelmed. There were homemade ornaments for each of my kids, and she even made one for me. Everything is perfect, right down to the detail of the father and son fishing.

I told ya this would lift your spirits. 

I don’t even know her last name. I just know she’s an angel.

This was the first time in 50 years I did not wake up with Ken on Christmas morning. Yet time after time the sweetness and love coming my way makes me grateful.

Theresa Martin
North Vancouver