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It was the morning of Christmas Eve and the sweet aroma of cinnamon and bakery goods, along with Christmas anticipation, filled the kitchen. “Willy,” Grandma Peaches asked, “can you go next door and ask Miss Katie for a cup of sugar?” “Sure,” he replied. A few minutes later, Willy returned with a partially used bag of sugar in hand. “You can put that in the pantry,” Grandma directed. Willie opened the pantry and noticed a large sugar jar that was almost full. “Grandma, you already have sugar,” he noticed. “I know, but you can never have too much sugar,” she replied. He put the bag of sugar next to the jar. “Come here and you can help me with the cookies,” Grandma said. The two worked on making cookies until Grandma stopped for a moment. “Willy, could you do me a favor and run across the street to Mr. Hoppy’s house and ask if we can borrow a cup of flour?” she asked. “Ok,” he replied. After a short time, he returned with a small unopened bag of flour. “Mr. Hoppy gave me this new bag,” he said, “where do you want me to put it?” “Put it in the pantry,” Grandma replied. Willy opened the pantry again and was surprised to see a big bag of unopened flour on the shelf. “Grandma,” he said perplexed, “you already have a new bag of flour in the pantry.” “I know,” she replied, “you can never have too much flour.” The timer on the stove beeped. “Oh, the cookies are ready,” she said. A tray of fresh baked cookies appeared on the counter. Willy’s eyes widened. “Can I have one?” he asked. “Of course,” she replied. “While they are cooling, would you go to Miss Polly’s house and ask if we can borrow some milk?” Willy hesitated and wanted to look in the refrigerator to see if milk was already there but decided against it. “Ok,” he said with a bit of a sigh. After about five minutes, Willy returned with another completed task, that of borrowing milk. “Miss Polly gave me this milk carton that is about full and said if you needed more, let her know,” Willy relayed. Willy looked in the direction of the cookies and noticed another empty cookie sheet and a pan that Grandma had set out along with some ingredients. He also noticed a full gallon container of milk that was sitting next to the pan. “Grandma,” he inquired, pointing to the milk, “isn’t that milk you already have?” “Yes it is,” she replied, “you can never have too much milk. Put the milk you just borrowed in the refrigerator.” Willy opened the refrigerator door and was again puzzled after seeing yet another gallon of milk on the shelf. “Grandma, you have another milk in here,” he said. “Why do you keep having me go to borrow other people’s stuff?” “It’s Christmas time,” Grandma said with a smile. “You will understand someday.” “Time to decorate the cookies,” Grandma said. “You want to help?” “Yes!” Willy said excitedly. Willy and Grandma spent the next several minutes adorning the cookies with red and green and white icing and sprinkles. “Wow, three big sheets of cookies, that’s a lot,” Willy observed. “They do look yummy, don’t they?” Grandma said. “You can take one if you want to.” Willy enjoyed a cookie and a glass of milk while Grandma finished transferring the cookies to another plate. For the next hour, Grandma worked on finishing a batch of cinnamon rolls to complement the cookies. Willy played video games, sitting at the kitchen table, casually observing the progress Grandma was making. It was now about 5:30 pm and the winter sun had just set. “Willy,” Grandma said. “Yes, Grandma,” he replied as he got up from the kitchen table. “Can you help me put together the Christmas Eve sweet treat plates?” she asked. “Yes,” he replied. Willy noticed three decorative plates next to all the cookies and cinnamon rolls Grandma had made. “Here’s what we need to do,” she explained as she demonstrated. “Take a plate, put a couple of cinnamon rolls in the center and then put cookies around the rolls.” “Ok, I can do that,” he reassured with a smile. They quickly made three full plates. Grandma covered each one with a snap-on plastic top. “Done,” she said. “What do we do with them?” he asked. “We are going to give them away,” she replied as she took two baskets out of the pantry. She took the sugar, flour, and milk borrowed earlier and placed them in one of the baskets. She put the three Christmas treat plates in the other basket. “We each will take a basket,” she said, handing the lighter one to Willy. “It’s not too heavy for you is it?” she asked. “No, I can take it,” he replied. “Follow me,” she commanded. They went out the front door and headed down the sidewalk. “Our first stop is Miss Katie’s house,” Grandma said. They proceeded to give Miss Katie a Christmas Eve treat plate. Grandma took the sugar they had borrowed earlier and gave it to Miss Katie, thanking her for letting them borrow it. They headed back down the sidewalk. “Our next stop is Mr. Hoppy’s house,” Grandma said. They took one of the Christmas treat plates to Mr. Hoppy’s house. She also gave him the bag of flour he gave them earlier in the day, also thanking him. Once again, they headed down the sidewalk. “Our last stop is Miss Polly’s house,” Grandma said. They dropped off the last Christmas treat plate at Miss Polly’s house. She took the last item in the basket, the borrowed milk, and gave it to Miss Polly, thanking her for her kindness in letting them borrow it. Grandma and Willy turned and headed home. “Why did you pick those three houses to give the plates to?” Willy inquired. “Well, the neighbors that live in those three houses have all had very difficult times lately and I know they were finding it hard to have Christmas this year,” Grandma explained. “Money is tight and I wanted to do something to brighten their Christmas,” she continued. On their way back to Grandma’s house, Willy seemed a bit confused. “Grandma, I still don’t understand why you borrowed that sugar and flour and milk from them when you already had some,” he questioned, “and then you gave the borrowed things back.” “Well, borrowing something from them makes it much easier for them to accept our gift, the Christmas treat plates, without feeling like it was charity or a handout,” she explained. “Christmas is a time of giving, and letting them give to us makes it easier for them to accept our giving to them,” she continued. “So,” Willy hesitated for a moment, “it’s not what we borrow or even if we use what we borrow that matters?” Grandma smiled, “as the saying goes, it’s the thought that counts.”
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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
  
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