• THE PERFECT GIFT
    One cold morning, just a week before Christmas, the streets were beautifully decorated with Christmas trees, carolers singing in every street. Even the lights shined brightly even in the morning, seems like everyone’s in the Christmas spirit, and it looks like everyone’s going to have a great Christmas, everyone but a 12-year old boy, Manny. He’s gloomily looking out the bedroom window when he sees a child playing with his mother in the Seattle snow. Like he would ever have fun with his mother, she barely cares about him. Manny loves his mom, but he’s not sure she likes him. That’s why he’s always so gloomy. Last Christmas he just stayed in bed all day knowing that his present will maybe be a pair of new underwear. Why bother getting up, the day of Christmas is just like any ordinary, gloomy day to him. Everyone else would get the great presents, he gets nothing important. He would stay in bed all day until he gets really hungry.
    The rest of his family is okay to him, his dad treats him well, but he’s really lenient. He’s probably the only one that treats him well. His 14-year old brother, Derrek, treats him okay at sometimes but mostly he neglects him. His sister Jallel is just annoying, plain annoying. Last time he spoke to her the conversation ended with him being kicked in the wrong place, and she of course started laughing. He has two turtles that he would always talk to when he has no one else, and all of his friends mostly don’t have time to talk to him. So, technically he’s lonely. Other people think he’s a loser because he gets really good grades at school.
    But anyways, I’m telling you this story of family faith so that you can be more independent, responsible, faithful, and trustworthy to your parents. Manny wants to get his mom the most perfect gift in the world. The bummer is that he has no money, of course his dad wasted it all for pool, his brother spent it on video games, his sister is six and doesn’t know how to manage money just fake plastic credit cards, and of course, his mom won’t lend him any money, not even loose change from the ground. So he left home only taking his skateboard to look for any help wanted for short jobs to earn money. He found some pretty decent ones like walking dogs, gardening, laundry, babysitter, and cleaning the bathroom at a gasoline station. He also had to run some errands for neighbors, and he had to wash 15 cars. Then he entered a pie eating contest where he of course had to eat the most pies, he won but then he puked, well at least he won $100!
    Well he’s made almost $300 in 5 days, 2 days to find the perfect gift. So, what he did first was look at the magazines, he found a lot of pretty jewelry, but he didn’t find the perfect one. But he saw an ad for Macys and it said, “The Perfect Gift!“ So of course he ran over to Macy’s to look for it, up 2 floors, down one, scanning all of them until he finally found it, but it was kind of not the perfect gift, besides, I don’t think his mom needed new bra. Yup, you heard me right, that was the perfect gift they were talking about in the ad. Well, looks like that wasn’t the perfect gift, and he spent a lot of time trying to find it.
    So along with the journey for the perfect gift! Next, he went to a jewelry store in the Del Amo Mall. He spent an hour there looking for the perfect gift, that’s under $5000! Well back at the house the whole family was worried sick for Manny, even his mom. All they found was a note:
    Dear Mom and all the others,
    When you find this do not panic, I’m doing this so I can prove that I really care for you mom, you always neglect me for no reason, I want to spend time with you. So I am going to find you the perfect gift, no matter what it takes. So I am going to be away for a few days, do not send the police. I will find that gift, I promise.
    Your son,
    Manny
    Of course they filed a report for a missing kid. So now he has to stay hidden too. He found a great ring and he bought it for a cheap price. But there was a problem, when he bought it, there were police there. They saw him and chased after him through the whole mall, they thought he was a thief, because they thought how a boy like him can afford a ring like that. They chased him until they lost him at Victoria’s Secret because he hid in the fitting rooms, and what kind of grown man would go inside that place. Now all he has to do is to get home before Christmas, but that is going to be tomorrow morning! But worst than that he’s far away from home, so if he doesn’t come home, he won’t be able to celebrate Christmas!
    He was skateboarding home as fast as he can until he heard sirens. Getting closer, and closer! Suddenly a police cruiser came and saw him, and of course they tried to get him because they thought he was a thief with his beanie on (In the mall he bought a new beanie because he was getting cold with the weather), he tried getting away, but his skateboard wasn’t fast enough! So they got out of the car and took him down, they took him to the car, but he dropped the ring! So he busted out of the officer’s strong grip and made a run for the ring, but too slow, they took him down and this time harder and dragged him to the back seat. He cried out that he needed the ring but they didn’t listen.
    At the police station he told the officers his story, and they were touched, but to prove it, they drove him to his house. When he got home he ran to the door actually admitting that he missed home. When his mom saw him she ran up to him and gave him a great big hug. She was crying, and the whole family came in and they were so happy to see him. His brother promised that he will never neglect him again. His sister didn’t really understand why everyone was crying, including the cops!
    Manny started apologizing because he didn’t get to get her a present for Christmas. But she said that him being able to still be safe after that long journey and the fact that he spent a week to find her the perfect gift was…… the most perfect gift in the world. So of course you know the rest, the whole family lived happily ever after, and just in time for Christmas. So from that moment on, they lived in peace, yes including Manny and his mom, so that’s my Christmas story.
    NOTE: Based on true people EXCEPT for Manny’s mom, because no mom is that mean. Also Manny because no one is that sad during Christmas.