My Christmas miracle

Despite the difficult year we've all endured, the holidays should inspire us to take stock of our lives and give thanks for what we have. It's a time for giving, a time for caring, and whether we're celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, surely there's something we can find that's taken a turn for the better.

We might be depressed because we don't have enough money to buy nice things or because we're in debt or have lost our job. Soon, one in 10 Californians might be out of a work. Homes are being lost daily.

But keeping it all in perspective is what's important.

The following is a letter I received Tuesday from the husband of my niece, Kara, in Missouri. It was a piece of paper, folded inside a holiday card, with a picture of the couple. It was the best present I could have ever received.

These are Joe's words:

On Dec. 11, my very worst fears came alive. I was on the couch watching TV waiting for Kara to get home. The phone rang and one of my fellow troopers (Joe is a Missouri state trooper) told me Kara was in a wreck. He said her car had rolled over several times, was fully engulfed in flames, and that she had been knocked unconscious. He said she was pulled out of her upside-down car by two strangers who saw the flames.

Somehow, I don't really how, but she wasn't seriously injured. She was scratched up, bruised, and a little smoky, but was released from the hospital later that night. The next day she was walking around feeling almost normal. I still don't believe what happened to her, and sometimes it feels like I'm looking at a ghost.

She could not have been any luckier, and we are still trying to track down the two men who risked their lives to pull her out of the burning car. They certainly saved her life. I know better than anyone how unbelievable it is that she lived after a wreck that horrible.

So this year, I already got the best present I could have dreamed of—I got to keep her.

I hope your families have been as blessed as ours, and please remember that being with your friends and family this holiday is what's truly important.

Happy holidays,

Joe and Kara

To our Acorn readers, we wish you a happy holiday, shared with

those you love.

—John Loesing