A few days ago I was at a dinner with some co-workers and we ended up talking about Christmas. A lot of my co-workers already have Christmas decorations up and I mentioned that I haven’t taken my Halloween ones down yet because I have no Christmas ones to replace them with. My boss told me she might have an extra tree her family never used and if I wanted it I could have it. I told her if she has one that she wants to get rid of I would totally take it. Fast forward to today when I get a lot of messages from the parents of the kids I teach. They were responding to a message my boss sent that I hadn’t seen. She sent a message to all the parents at the Academy saying there is a teacher without a Christmas tree and they wanted to get her one and wondered if anyone had an extra they don’t need or had one they’re getting rid of. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It made me so grateful for the community I’m surrounded with in my work.

I’ve had a handful of bosses over the years and all of them have been pretty great, but I don’t think any of them would have done what Brooke did. To me, our conversation about the Christmas tree was a passing moment and I figured if Brooke didn’t have one that was ok and that would be the end of it. But instead of just saying “oh well” and moving on when it turns out she didn’t, she cared enough about me to put effort into getting me that Christmas tree. I’ve talked to her quite a bit over my months at Rooted Academy, but she doesn’t know how I struggle with depression in the winter. She doesn’t know how much I love Christmas. She doesn’t know that surrounding myself with Christmas things during cold Decembers brings me joy and helps with the depression. But God knows. And He knew that Brooke was a perfect person to help me because she has such a big heart. But it wasn’t just Brooke’s efforts that made me so grateful. There were several parents that said they didn’t have trees, but would be willing to buy one or go in on one so that I could have a tree. Brooke never said that it was me that needed the tree, yet these parents were willing to help out a teacher that wasn’t their kids’ teacher. And the person that said they do have a tree I can use wasn’t the parent of any of my kids. All these parents were willing to do this for someone they might not even know. I’m really excited to have my own Christmas tree and I’m happy that it will have so much more meaning now than if I just bought one at the store. I am so humbled by the charity I saw today from my boss and from the parents and am so grateful for their kindness.