the other gift I didn't ask for (but really wanted)

So, the same day I stayed home sick and read about the gift of poverty, I received another present from the hand of God. And this one was a little easier to open . . .

I perked up as the day went on, and by mid-afternoon felt good enough to get out and do some Christmas shopping. Greg said he'd go with me, but went and grabbed the mail before he got in the car. I sorted through the pile of envelopes as he headed for Target, opening Christmas cards and telling him any news of interest.

There was a card from his place of employment. I ripped it open and we were both stunned to find a very generous Fred Meyer gift card inside! Since Greg has only been with this job for a few months, he wasn't expecting any kind of a Christmas bonus, so we were both quite grateful for this unforseen blessing.

"Hey, let's go see if there are any electric fireplaces at Freddy's," Greg said as he sped right past Target. Ever since our friend Lynda installed such a faux fireplace in her cozy office at Abundant Life, Greg has had a hankering for one. They add warmth and ambiance to any room--and in his estimation, a romantic flair. He's had me looking for fireplaces on Craig's List the past few months, but even used ones proved pricey. We finally decided it wasn't doable with our budget this year--we'd just gotten each other a new transmission and garage door opener for Christmas :)

So off to Freddy's we flew, our hearts warmed at the prospect of finding a fake fireplace. We wandered aimlessly around the store for a few minutes, wondering where you'd find such a thing. As we passed the garden section, a large sign caught our eye: "TODAY ONLY: ALL ELECTRIC FIREPLACES ON SALE!"

How cool is that? And they were all half-off, every one of them! We found a small stash of fireplaces in the garden supply area, and had the poor clerk wrestle several out of their boxes so we could examine them more closely. We made our choice, which we were quite happy with, and then headed toward the grocery section to make a few additional purchases. The garden clerk would meet us at the checkout with our prize.

As we passed by a sparkling display of Christmas decor, the faux fireplace in the midst of it all caught our eye. It was gorgeous--an elegant dark wood mantle with an attractive screen. We couldn't find a price tag, but tracked down our friendly clerk to ask if we could buy it.

"Yup, it's on sale, too," he said. And we even got an extra discount because it had been a floor model!

So we left Freddy's with the fireplace we really wanted and hadn't asked for--with another $50 remaining on our gift card.

I could just see the Father smiling as we basked in the warm glow of the fake logs that afternoon . . .