by Charlotte DeWinter

Created on: September 28, 2010   Last Updated: October 15, 2010

It was the first day back to Mrs. Johnson's fourth grade class and she requested that everyone write what they did on Christmas, what gifts they got, what food they had eaten, and who they spent it with. Everyone looked down at their paper and started writing.

That night, as Mrs. Johnson was reading through the papers, she was reading the usual that she receives every year. Most were short, maybe half of the page, and said things such as, "we ate lots of pies and Mommy and Daddy bought me a..." Mrs. Johnson continued to read them and came upon the last one that was written by Charlotte, the shy girl who sits in the back of the classroom. Charlotte had written almost two pages, more than she has ever written on anything before.

"On Christmas, I spent the entire day with my family. I love my family, I have so many brothers and sisters, I get new ones all the time. I was sad for a little bit when Johnny left on Christmas before he got to eat my yummy brownies, but it was okay, his Mommy is so nice. My mommies and daddies are so nice, I love them so much too. We all sat around the fireplace and sang and thanked God for all of our great family and yummy food when we woke up. When we got done, we all played with our new toys, I got a new dolly, Mommy Anne made it for me. She had been working on it for a whole week and I never knew! The food was really yummy, everyone said they liked my brownie, I gave mine to Mommy Fran to give to Johnny when she saw him again. I hope everyone else had a happy Christmas like me. I hope no one was sad. They can always come spend time with my family. We are always getting kids to stay with us who are sad. They always get happy though when they find out I'm their sister though. I hope everyone is as lucky and happy as me and have so much love as I do. I'm sure they do, my mommies and daddies say that God loves us all and makes us all very happy, and when they aren't happy, God sends them to us to be my sister or brother. I love them so much, I told all of them that on Christmas too, to make sure that they know. I know that they love me..."

The story continued on in this manner for a while and Mrs. Johnson, out of curiosity, went and found her student records. Mrs. Johnson discovered that Charlotte had been living in an adoption home since she was a baby and never known her parents. Her "siblings" were the other orphans and her "mommies and daddies" were the workers and volunteers there.

Mrs. Johnson stopped reading and reached down and picked up the gift Charlotte had gaven her that morning with the words, "I have lots of mommies and daddies and you said you didn't have any, my Mommy Anne made this and I want you to have it, everyone needs a mommy's love and Mommy Anne said she loves everyone." The little rag doll was now the most precious thing she had ever seen.

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