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Nineteen years ago the Christmas season was upon us, and two of the hooligans were attending their first school Christmas party. Earlier in the week the children had drawn a name of a classmate and were to purchase a gift with that person in mind.

I think we all know the potential for disaster in said situation.

Quite a few parents had shown up to help ride herd on the little darlings. Activity and noise abounded as the effect of sugar highs became apparent all around the room.

The kids were loud, too. Soon it was time for the gifts to be opened.

The giver went to the tree, chose the gift he or she had brought and delivered it to the correct person. All was going along quite well until my third-grade boy hooligan opened his gift. It was actually quite a lovely gift all things considered.

We had tried to teach our kids to be thankful from the time they were little.

This gift pushed the limit.

To this day he is very expressive and his brown eyes truly are windows to his soul. In this case they became wet little windows as his eyes filled with tears of disappointment and bewilderment. I'm sure the kid who gave him the present wasn't too thrilled, either. The other kids had received toy cars or army guys or typical small toys that may not make it to the new year.

No judgment on my part. I'm sure the mom had a lot going on and realized the morning of the party that her three kids needed gifts for their parties. I'm sure she did the best she could.

My son did his best to express thanks, but his heart just wasn't in it. I was standing near him when he opened the present, so I encouraged him to thank his friend and reminded him there would be other gifts come Christmas Eve. He did pretty well. When we got home later in the day, I took a little sharpie pen and wrote the following:

It says, "Justin got this from Zack Hayward in 3rd grade. December/1995. Very sad because other kids got toys but he's still got this. :-)"

Year after year this ornament comes out, the story is recounted and I find it necessary to read aloud to any and all what they have now heard for 19 Christmases.

It's a glass Christmas ornament. As you can see, poor Noah has lost part of his head as well as the head of his staff. Things got tight in that ark, you know.

Never fear. Noah can be gorilla glued. It's only fitting that the glue would have an animal as part of its name. And if you don't get that pun, it is back to the Bible for you.

I hope your holidays are filled with joy, peace and gratefulness!

- Cindi Labadie

Cindi Labadie, mom to five and wife to one, blogs at "Seemingly Ordinary."