5m,”

59. The Spirit of Giving

It was December, 1967 and the Doucette family was preparing for Christmas. This was a special time to spend together. Friends and family would often meet at the Doucette household and Margurita made sure there was doughnuts and fruitcake on the table.

Christmas was also a time for reminiscing. Margurita would sometimes tell the children about past Christmases when she was a child... there was one Christmas when Santa could only afford to bring balloons for the children - that Christmas, Margurita’s sister, Rita had taken her balloon outside and the wind had caught it. Margurita remembers Rita crying for her balloon, until Margurita felt sorry for her and gave Rita her own balloon.

Margurita also remembered another Christmas when Rita had wanted a new pair of shoes. She had mentioned this to the neigh- bour, Melanie. Melanie told Rita to “Pray to Saint Anthony, and you

will get your shoes.”

The following week, Rita prayed faithfully every night. She knelt by her beside, and fixed her gaze on a picture of Saint Anthony. Each evening, she would ask Saint Anthony for a new pair of shoes.

Rita patiently waited for Saint Anthony to intercede, and when Christmas Eve came, she was sure that her request would be granted. She made her way down the stairs in the chilly darkness on Christmas morn. To Rita’s disappointment, she had not received her new shoes.

At this point, Rita lost her patience - she raced up the stairs to have a few words with Saint Anthony. When she had reached her bedroom, she proceeded to take Saint Anthony’s picture down from the wall. She turned the picture around and hung it up again, but

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