The Toothless Grin

[bluidkiti]

The Toothless Grin

I was doing some last-minute Christmas shopping in a toy
store and decided to look at Barbie dolls for my nieces. A
nicely dressed little girl was excitedly looking through the
Barbie dolls as well, with a roll of money clamped tightly
in her little hand. When she came upon a Barbie she liked,
she would turn and ask her father if she had enough money to
buy it.

He usually said "yes," but she would keep looking and keep
going through their ritual of "do I have enough?" As she was
looking, a little boy wandered in across the aisle and
started sorting through the Pokemon toys. He was dressed
neatly, but in clothes that were obviously rather worn, and
wearing a jacket that was probably a couple of sizes too
small. He too had money in his hand, but it looked to be no
more than five dollars or so at the most. He was with his
father as well, and kept picking up the Pokemon video toys.
Each time he picked one up and looked at his father, his
father shook his head, "No."

The little girl had apparently chosen her Barbie, a
beautifully dressed, glamorous doll that would have been the
envy of every little girl on the block. However, she had
stopped and was watching the interchange between the little
boy and his father. Rather dejectedly, the boy had given up
on the video games and had chosen what looked like a book of
stickers instead. He and his father then started walking
through another aisle of the store.

The little girl put her Barbie back on the shelf, and ran
over to the Pokemon games. She excitedly picked up one that
was lying on top of the other toys, and raced toward the
check-out, after speaking with her father. I picked up my
purchases and got in line behind them. Then, much to the
little girl's obvious delight, the little boy and his father
got in line behind me.

After the toy was paid for and bagged, the little girl
handed it back to the cashier and whispered something in her
ear. The cashier smiled and put the package under the
counter.

I paid for my purchases and was rearranging things in my
purse when the little boy came up to the cashier. The
cashier rang up his purchases and then said,
"Congratulations, you are my hundredth customer today, and
you win a prize!" With that, she handed the little boy the
Pokemon game, and he could only stare in disbelief. It was,
he said, exactly what he had wanted!

The little girl and her father had been standing at the
doorway during all of this, and I saw the biggest,
prettiest, toothless grin on that little girl that I have
ever seen in my life. Then they walked out the door, and I
followed close behind them. As I walked back to my car in
amazement over what I had just witnessed, I heard the father
ask his daughter why she had done that. I'll never forget
what she said to him.

"Daddy, didn't Nana and PawPaw want me to buy something that
would make me happy?"

He said, "Of course they did, honey."

To which the little girl replied, "Well, I just did!"

With that, she giggled and started skipping toward their
car. Her toothless grin said it all. Apparently, she had
decided on the answer to her own question of, "Do I have
enough?"

I feel very privileged to have witnessed the true spirit of
Christmas in that toy store, in the form of a little girl
who understands more about the reason for the season than
most adults I know!

Written by Sharon Palmer