by Mary Daigle

Created on: December 30, 2007

Our Christmas Miracle

I must share the story of our family's Christmas Miracle - but let me start at the beginning. My three children and their families came together to celebrate Christmas in Montana with my daughter and her family. As we gathered around on Christmas Eve, my daughter handed me the Bible and asked me to read the wonderful story from Luke. I didn't think there was much chance of quieting down a roomful of active grandchildren, ages 10, 7, 5, and 3, so I let them tell the story. Our very active three year old, Gabe, quietly asked if he could be the Baby Jesus, whereupon he lay with arms outstretched on a pillow placed on the floor and lay absolutely still for at least 20 minutes. Our shepherds, Melissa (7) and Dane (5), then decided to be angels and stood at the end of the Baby's "bed", and sang like angels while the Baby lay still listening. It was a moment for tears, at least for grandmother. Then, to top off this inspiring Christmas Eve, Austin (10) played Christmas carols on his guitar while we all sang (with the Baby still lying still - "no crying he made")

Christmas day was, of course, great fun and excitement for all as was the following day of skiing at Red Lodge, Montana. On the way home, a deer ran in front of the SUV, damaging the front end but none were hurt. But this only the beginning of miracles.

On Wednesday, my son, Mark, and his wife, Jen, and their children, Austin and Melissa, left in their big truck to drive back home. The truck was loaded with Mark's frozen elk meat from a fall hunting trip with my son-in-law, as well as their luggage and Christmas gifts. The highway had been clear until just past Dillon, Montana on I-15 when they suddenly hit a patch of "black" ice which sent them airborne over the other lane of traffic an into a ditch where they rolled over and over, coming to rest upside down. As they hung there in their seat belts, Melissa exclaimed, "I just love seat belts". The truck was totally demolished except for the passenger compartment. The car over which they flew received an elk roast through their window which landed between the driver and his wife. They were unhurt and the driver got out of the car to direct traffic over the highway cluttered with frozen meat and Christmas gifts. Cars stopped and one kindly couple invited Jen and the children to sit in their van to keep warm. There was no cell phone coverage in that particular spot so trucks forwarded messages down the road to get ambulance, etc. They were all unhurt except for a bump on Melissa's head. They were able to recover a few things including Austin's guitar which was without a scratch. Firemen spent more than an hour picking up items to save for the family while they were checked out at a local clinic.

The finale to this story is that when Jen started to get into the stranger's van, she felt something in her hair and reached up to find a gold cross which she had been missing for two months. Not only did we have angels watching Christmas Eve, there were angels still watching over them that cold night on I-15 and there were angels there to help them afterward.

For our family, this was a true message of Christmas and one we will never forget.

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