Tricia and Carol were hosting a Christmas party at their house and had gone all out, decorating. There were several large blow up decorations for the front yard; a Santa, a train and a jack-in-the-box. The front door was wrapped in a red and green wrapping paper with a wide red ribbon on it. Inside, there were candles lit everywhere. There was a fully stocked bar and a red hurricane punch on the table and a table next to it with every dessert you could think of; coconut balls, cheesecake, red velvet cake, ambrosia, red and green cookies, etc. Trish said, “I would really like to get pizza delivered, but the pizza shop said we would have to come get it ourselves. They said there were very few delivery drivers anymore since the homeless were no longer around to work there. Boy, those homeless people are still causing us problems! I thought by now we wouldn’t have any more trouble out of them!”

Carol said, “Yeah, me too.” She put on some modern Christmas music and went to answer the door and start letting the guests in.

Danny was so busy delivering pizzas the last few days before Christmas that he wasn’t sleeping. He was like the donut guy who met himself coming to work and Danny found himself living off of energy drinks! He had to call in to work on Christmas day because he was at the hospital with a pounding heart! He was relieved to find out it wasn’t a heart attack, but the energy drinks causing it. The doctor did advise him to cool it on the energy drinks for a while to give his body time to recover. He went to a family restaurant for his Christmas dinner and then went home to play his new video game that he had gotten himself for Christmas.

On the cruise ship in Portland, as well as the ships in L.A., the formerly homeless people had a simple Christmas with a nice dinner and presents they had bought with the tokens earned aboard. The general consensus was, if they had still been homeless, there wouldn’t have been any presents at all, so they were very grateful for the little they did receive!

When Donald got back from town, he was so discouraged that he went straight to bed. The next morning, he tried to be cheerful so he didn’t bring anyone down, but Jim saw right through his efforts. “What is going on Donald? What happened in town?”

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Donald said, “Well, Ben can’t help us. Someone already got credit from him and then left the state.”

“I am so sorry to hear that, Donald, but something will work out,” Jim said.

Donald groaned, remembering the letter from Max.

Jim said, “What?”

Donald told him about the letter from Max and he was afraid Max was going to sue him.

Jim said, “Donald, I think the letter might be about something else because Max seemed like a changed man when he left here. Let’s read it together.”

Donald went up to get the letter out of his room and took it to Jim to read. Jim tore it open and a card fell on the floor. While Donald was picking it up, Jim started reading the letter.

“Hello and Merry Christmas, my friends! I say that because you folks are my only real friends. You are honest and you don’t put on airs or pretend with me. I am sending a credit card with $50,000 on it. I know you have spent a lot, Donald, because you were the only one with money and I suspect you could really use some help, so here it is. Hopefully there is enough to make a difference and cover whatever expenses you may have. This is a gift, not a loan. I miss you all and will be thinking of you this Christmas and how you all changed my life. Oh, is there any way you can find a red rose for Karen and tell her Merry Christmas for me? Much love to everyone, Max.”

Jim looked up and tears were streaming from Donald’s face and dripping onto the floor. “He said, I am so happy right now that I could spit!”

Jim roared with laughter and said, “I never in a million years would have guessed you would say that!”

A crowd had gathered around to see what the hullabaloo was about and the roar of everyone talking at once filled the room! A trip was planned the next day, bright and early so they could lay in supplies before the next storm hit!

Sarah sat at home crying. She thought, “Christmas is this week and these poor people on Venice Beach have nothing and nowhere to go. Then , when they do have a place to go in January, it will be to their death, for most of them. I wish I could help them. Oh, I know I help them with food and showers and it is something, but they are humans and it isn’t right that they have nothing to look forward to and have no homes. Everyone should have a home.